When I knew
by NecroLurker
Summary: Marceline has to stay with Simon while her dad is away on a business trip. She's been bullied simply because of her eye colour, however when she starts in a new school she makes a new friend, Bonnibel. Highschool AU. Bubbline. First attempt at fanfiction. (I do not own Adventure Time. Yet...)
1. Chapter 1: Marceline

**When I knew**

Chapter 1

Marceline sat inside her small treehouse whilst gazing at the night sky through a crudely built wooden sunroof. She held her axe-bass close to her chest and sighed softly. She closed her eyes and hummed to herself as her fingers strummed a soft melody. The cold night air meant nothing to her whilst she fiddled her bass. She wasn't sure how long she had been playing before she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Marceline awoke with a sudden jerk as she heard her dad calling for her.<p>

"Marceline! I'm bringing you over to Simon's this afternoon! You'd better have already packed away your things, because I'm not waiting any longer than an hour."

Marceline grunted as she rolled over to her side and brushed her long black hair away from her eyes with her hand. She picked up her axe-bass, swung it over her shoulder and made her way down the ladder and walked towards her house. The back-garden appeared rather small since the treehouse took up most of the garden space, despite the fact that it was well above head-height. The grass felt cold and wet against her bare feet. "Marceline! Hurry up!" When she opened the back-door and walked into her house, she saw her dad already dressed and furiously eyeing his watch.

"You have fifty minutes. Now hurry up before I make you hurry!"

As per usual Hunson Abadeer was dressed in a black business suit, with a red tie and his jet black hair combed all the way back. Marceline couldn't remember a time when he _wasn't_ dressed this way. The only evidence she had to prove that he wore other clothes were old photos from his youth.

Marceline walked past her fuming father and headed straight up the stairs, slouching a little. When she made it to the bathroom door she lifted her head and pushed the door open with a tired hand. After she had her shower and she put on a pair of black jeans and a dark red and grey striped shirt. She didn't bother brushing her hair and just trudged down the stairs to have her breakfast.

"Twenty five minutes Marceline. Make it fast."

She ignored her father's words and poured herself some cereal and ate it as slowly as possible. Hunson turned to face her, finger tapping furiously on his watch.

"Five minutes Marceline. Tell me you made your bag yesterday."

She looked at him with her eyes half open. "I made my bag yesterday." This made Hunson sigh with relief. "Now excuse me while I go make my bag" she said as she walked past him.

* * *

><p>The drive to Simon's house was long. Neither father nor daughter spoke to each other throughout the entire journey. Marceline spent the whole drive staring at the rain through her window. As they pulled over in front of Simon's house, Hunson turned around and began talking to her.<p>

"Look, Marceline you know that I have to leave you with Simon because of work don't you? I'm really sorry about all of this but it can't be helped."

Marceline didn't seem to be paying attention to her dad and didn't appear to acknowledge his presence let alone the fact that he was talking to her. He sighed.

"I love you Marceline. I may not show it all the time but I do." With that he opened the car door and got out. He walked up to the Simon's front door and rang the bell as Marceline slowly got out of the car.

The door was opened by a tall man with messy brown hair and glasses. He was wearing college professor's attire, which was basically a brown cotton suit.

"Well, hello Hunson!" the tall man exclaimed.

"It's good to see you Simon."

Simon peered over Hunson's shoulder and watched Marceline get out of the car.

"Is that the young lady, then?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

Hunson turned around and saw Marceline looking in the boot of the car for her axe-bass.

"Last I checked, yes."

"My glob she's grown so much in the last few years. She was barely up to my knee the last time I saw her!"

Hunson chuckled, "They do grow fast, don't they?"

By this time Marceline had already reached the front door and came up to say hello to Simon. She stood there in front of him with her head hanging low, her long hair covering her eyes.

"Hey Marcy! Glob, I haven't seen you since you were this big!" He held his hand in the air just below his knee.

A small smile broke upon Marceline's face as eventually she looked up at him and gave her guardian a hug. The bond between them was so obvious that a blind man could see it.

"It's good to see you too, Simon."

The pair just stayed like that for a couple of seconds before Hunson made a small cough sound in order to attract their attention.

"Well, I best be off! Marceline, be good to Simon, ok?"

Marceline gave him a little nod as Simon gave Hunson a big pat on the back.

"We'll be fine Hunson! After all it's only for…" Simon stopped for a second, with puzzled look on his face. "Actually, how long _is_ it going to be…?"

Hunson scratched the back of his head. "I honestly have no idea. It could be a few years. Eleven months at the least."

"Dad!" Marceline was giving her father the death-stare.

"Oh c'mon Marceline… I told you it was gonna be a while…"

"Dad, this is serious! You can't just-" Hunson cut her off and began walking towards his car.

"Look sweetie, I really don't have time for this. If you have any problems just give me a call. Although you should probably call at night since that's the only time I'm not working…"

"Dad!"

"Byeee Marcelinnnne!" he called as he drove off.

Marceline turned around to face Simon who just looked at her with an impossibly blank and neutral expression. "So…" he began, "do you want some spaghetti?"

* * *

><p>After dinner Marceline went upstairs to her room. She dropped her bag next her red bed and propped her axe-bass against the grey wall. She lay down on her stomach upon her bed and stared at the white ceiling. She could hear owls and cats hooting and meowing outside. She turned her head to look through her bedroom window. She could see the wind violently shaking the tree outside her bedroom window. Every now and again, it tapped against the glass. She knew she would regret it later if she didn't close the curtains but she felt too tired to do so. In the end her eyes decided to close before her legs could move and she fell asleep.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>First chapter of my first ever story, so please review and tell me your thoughts.<strong>

**(Btw chapters DO get longer after chapter 3 so worry not!)**


	2. Chapter 2: Eyes

Chapter 2

It was about six thirty in the morning when the first ray of light entered Marceline's room. By the time it was seven o clock the sunlight had completely invaded her bedroom. She moaned with frustration as she looked at her clock. She lay there for another couple of hours before her alarm clock went off. Even then, she didn't get up. She instead reached across her bed for her axe-bass which was leaning against the wall. Once she grabbed a hold of it, she rolled over onto her back and held her instrument up to her chest. She then sat up and started tweaking the strings and strumming them every so often. Once she was satisfied Marceline got out of bed and left her room. She slowly trudged down the stairs and greeted Simon with a tired grunt. He was sitting at the kitchen table reading the morning newspaper and drinking from a now half empty cup of coffee. He looked up from his newspaper and gave her a smile. After Marceline had poured herself some cereal Simon began talking to her.

"So… how do you feel about going to a new school?"

She answered without looking at him. "Pretty ok I guess."

Simon put down his paper and cleaned one of the lenses on his glasses before putting them back on.

"Are you sure? You know that you can share whatever you're feeling with me. You can tell me anything and I won't judge you for any of it."

"I'll keep that in mind" she replied while munching on her reddish pink cereal.

After breakfast Marceline went upstairs to the bathroom to wash herself. When she came out of the shower she picked up a white towel and wrapped it around herself. The room smelled like warm water and soap. She walked up to the mirror and wiped off the steam from the glass with a tissue. Marceline just stared into the mirror and had a proper look at herself. Her skin was pale and her hair was long and black. Staring back at her from the mirror were two crimson eyes. The doctors had told her it was just a rare mutation in her eye pigment that made them red; however that didn't stop it from bothering her. Because she had red eyes it caused most people to think of her as some sort of freak. As a result she had little to no friends. Marceline didn't even notice the tear running down her cheek. She wiped her face with a towel and changed into a pair of blue denim shorts and a grey t-shirt. It was only a matter of time before she had to start school again.

* * *

><p>Simon tapped his fingers against the kitchen table. He sat in an odd leaning position with a focused looking expression on his face. He sensed that Marceline was nervous about going to a new school. He always knew if there was even something slightly wrong with her, after all she was practically like a daughter to him. Simon sighed. He sat up straight and pulled his phone out from his pocket. He flipped it open and dialled in a number. He waited as the phone rang.<p>

"Hello Peppermint? It's Simon. … Simon Petrikov who else? Listen, I need you to do me a favour."


	3. Chapter 3: Peppermint

Chapter 3

"Marcy, we have a guest!"

Marceline sighed as she turned off the TV in her room. She got up off her bed and headed downstairs. She had been staying with Simon for a good few days now and this was the first time he'd ever invited anybody over to his house. When Marceline entered the sitting room she came across a middle aged man who appeared to be of average height. His hair was red for the most part but the few streaks of grey in his hair showed his age. He greeted Marceline with a warm smile.

"Marceline," Simon began, "This is my good friend Mr. Butler."

Marceline looked up at the man curiously, not quite sure what to think of him. "Hello Mr. Butler…"

The man spoke up for the first time. "Oh please just call me Peppermint."

For a man of his stature and build, his voice was surprisingly chipper. Marceline seemed slightly taken aback.

"Your name is Peppermint Butler?"

Simon frowned at her.

"Well, it's more of a nickname really." He responded. "On account of my hair resembling a peppermint sweet." He said whilst pointing at his head. "However my last name _is_ Butler. Even though, nobody in my family has ever taken the role of one as a profession." He seemed to smile at this thought. It was at this point when Simon entered the conversation.

"Marcy, why don't you make myself and Peppermint some tea?"

Taking the excuse to leave this, somewhat awkward conversation; Marceline left the two men to talk to each other while she prepared tea for them in the kitchen.

* * *

><p><strong>*30 minutes later*<strong>

"You're right. She does seem _far_ too shy for a girl her age."

Simon took a sip from his mug before answering Peppermint.

"So do reckon that there's any way you can help to settle into this new school?" Peppermint placed his empty mug of tea upon the sitting room table and leaned back into his chair. He scratched his chin for a little bit and crossed his legs while he sat. Peppermint casually turned his head to look at Simon. "I don't see why not."

A soft gentle sound could be heard coming from upstairs. Peppermint eyed Simon, looking curious.

"Whatever is that beautiful tune?"

Simon grinned at Peppermint as if he was holding back a small laugh. "That… would be Marceline playing her bass."

Peppermint looked dumbstruck. "My glob! You can't be serious? Upon first impressions I would have never have suspected that the girl had so much talent!"

He stopped everything for a bit. He just sat far into his seat, his eyes half closed whilst he looked in the general direction of the ceiling. Simon sat there listening with him, still drinking his tea. Eventually, after about eight minutes had passed, the song coming from upstairs ended. Saying nothing, Simon put down his mug on the table and waited for Peppermint to speak.

"Have you ever told her how good she is?" he asked, eagerly awaiting some kind of answer.

Simon leant forward in his chair and brought his hands to the front of his face; his palms flat against each other, his thumbs resting underneath his chin. His eyes were closed.

"No. I have not."

This completely shocked Peppermint. However, before he could reply Simon continued talking.

"I know this girl better than anybody else. I'm the one who raised her as a child. She's practically my daughter." Simon paused. "Any praise I would give her, she will assume is just out of love and not because she has any real talent. While I do not tell her that her musical talent is quite astonishing, I convey that I enjoy her music, but that is the most I can do. In her eyes, my opinion is merely that of a loving father and not a critic. So there's no point." Simon opened his eyes and looked at Peppermint. "But please, feel free to tell her yourself, if you wish."


	4. Chapter 4: Bonnibel

Chapter 4

"So, how do you feel about going to school?"

Marceline was fiddling with the contents of her schoolbag so she didn't hear Simon's question.

"Marceline!"

Marceline jumped a little and looked towards Simon. He repeated his question. "So, how do you feel about going to school?"

Marceline fumbled with the buttons on her t-shirt while she thought about her answer.

"Ok, I guess…"

The school had no official uniform so Marceline just wore what she deemed appropriate to wear. She wore a pair of blue jeans and charcoal t-shirt with a little logo on one of the sleeves. Simon watched her as she went through her bag one more time, just to make sure she hadn't missed anything.

_"Well, I guess it's now or never."_ Simon thought to himself.

He took off his glasses and gave them a quick clean before putting them back on.

"Marceline?" he called. Once he had her attention, he continued his sentence, "I've arranged it so that my friend's nephew will be showing you around the school on your first day."

Marceline froze.

"You what?"

It wasn't often that Simon didn't notice when Marceline was uncomfortable with something. Unfortunately for him, today was one of those rare days were he didn't see the distress on Marceline's face.

"Which friend…?" she asked quietly.

"Peppermint. But don't worry, he's very friendly, you'll get along no problem!" As if on cue, Simon's doorbell rang. Simon smiled. "That should be him now."

Simon travelled down his small hallway to the door with Marceline trailing behind whilst dragging her red schoolbag along the floor. Simon answered the door.

"Well hello Gum..?" Simon looked confused.

Standing at his front door was a girl with impossibly pink hair in light pink blouse and baby blue jeans who was no more than a year or two younger than Marceline. She smiled nervously.

"H-Hi Simon. I'm Bubblegum, Peppermint's niece." Simon raised an eyebrow.

"I thought that Gumball was going to be here today?"

Bubblegum's face flushed into a bright red colour. "He… uh, he just transferred to another school last weekend, so… here I am!" She spread out her arms as if she was presenting herself to a crowd and gave yet another nervous smile. Simon smiled back at her which helped her relax a bit.

"Well I suppose that it really doesn't matter as long as there's someone to show Marceline around."

* * *

><p>As Bubblegum was listening to Simon talk, she found her eyes straying towards the hallway behind him. What she saw was a tall girl standing in the more shaded part of the hallway with her head pointed towards the ground, as if she were hiding. While trying her best to hold a conversation with Simon, she couldn't help but to stare at the seemingly shy girl standing behind Simon. She broke out of her trance almost as quickly as she fell into it as Simon suddenly spoke louder.<p>

"All right Marcy, it's time for you and Bubblegum to head off."

He closed the door as soon as the raven haired girl stepped into the front garden. Her hair was hiding most of her face and she still hadn't looked up. Bubblegum swiped some of her pink hair away from her eyes and spoke to the dark haired girl. "Hi!" she said happily, hoping that a positive attitude might help the other girl feel more at ease.

"You're Marceline, aren't you?"

The raven haired girl finally looked up at Bubblegum revealing a rather beautiful face but also two rather disturbingly red eyes. The sight of the girl's blood red, crimson eyes caused Bubblegum to let out a small gasp. Something she regretted immediately. When the other girl first looked up at Bubblegum her eyes conveyed hopefulness, however the instant that Bubblegum gasped at the sight of them, they plunged into an expression of pure sadness and defeat. When she spoke, Bubblegum barely heard her.

"Yeah… I'm Marceline."

Bubblegum felt bad for the older girl. She could clearly see that she'd upset her and she wanted to fix that before they reached the school.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted. "It's just that I've never seen someone with red eyes before!"

Marceline looked at Bubblegum as if she were trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"Yeah…" she replied quietly, "I haven't either."

Bubblegum smiled at Marceline. "In fact… I think it actually looks kind of cool!"

Marceline seemed taken aback slightly and stopped walking. She looked straight at Bubblegum, confused.

"Really…?"

"Yes, of course! I mean how many people can say they have let alone know somebody else who has red eyes?" Marceline felt herself smile for the first time in months.

"So, what did you say your name was again?"

"It's Bubblegum."

Marceline raised her eyebrow, a trait that Bubblegum had noticed in Simon.

"Seriously?"

Bubblegum seemed slightly confused at Marceline's response.

"Yeah… why? Is there something wrong with that?"

Marceline stopped walking for the second time and looked Bubblegum straight in the eye.

"Ok, real-talk here. Bubblegum isn't really your name, is it?"

Bubblegum paused. She looked as if she was having an internal debate with herself. Eventually she spoke.

"No. No it isn't…"

"Then why do have people call you Bubblegum?"

This time Bubblegum answered quickly.

"Hey! It's not my fault! It's just sort of a nickname that everybody calls me by. I just don't really bother telling anybody my name since they seem happy calling me Bubblegum."

Marceline thought about this for a while. "So… what's your _real_ name?" She gave Bubblegum a hopeful smile. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." she added quickly. Bubblegum looked down and sighed. She then looked up at Marceline, appearing fearful of her response.

"It's Bonnibel." Marceline smiled, revealing a pair of not so obvious but still very noticeably sharp canines.

"I like it." she replied.

Bonnibel's eyes widened with surprise.

"You do?"

Marceline laughed. "About as much as you like my red eyes."

Bonnibel blushed. "So you like my name a lot then?" Before Marceline had a chance to respond they had reached the school.


	5. Chapter 5: School

Chapter 5

Marceline and Bonnibel were herded into a crowd of other students by teachers the very second they took a step through the school gates. The crowd was overwhelming for Marceline. Everywhere she looked she could only see people's heads and schoolbags. Their combined body heat only made her feel uncomfortably hot in the assembly hall. The constant chatter and laughter of the other students made it nearly impossible to make out what the person next to you was saying. At some point they got separated. Marceline panicked. She began calling out Bonnibel's name.

"Bonnie! Bonnie where'd you go? Bonnie!"

Without realizing what she was doing she accidently bumped into someone in the crowd.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't see where I was going…" she spluttered as she attempted to regain her balance.

The person she bumped into turned around to look at her. She had brown hair and was a little shorter than Marceline, however she was much plumper.

"Who the hell are you?" the slightly chubby girl snapped.

"I'm uh Marceline. I'm kind of new around here and-" The other girl laughed, however it wasn't a kind laugh.

"Yeah, you _must_ be." she scoffed, before turning around to continue conversing with her friends. "

_Great_" Marceline thought to herself. "_I've barely started and someone is already ripping on me."_

Marceline moved to walk away but stopped in her tracks before she bumped into someone else. The person she would've crashed into just stared at her with curious green eyes. He was dressed in mostly dark clothes and had a rocker shirt on with the face of a zombie with horns printed on it. His skin was somehow paler than Marceline's and his hair had been cut right down. He was the definition of a skinhead.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"W-What…?" she asked, unsure if what she'd heard was correct.

The boy repeated his question. "I said; can I help you? You look a bit lost."

"Yeah." She replied, thankful for some aid. "You see I-"

"You're new here aren't you?" Marceline looked at the boy, surprised.

"Um, yes. How did you…?"

The boy just smiled at her. "I think I would've remembered someone with eyes like that." he said. Marceline gave a half-smile.

"So what's your name?" she asked.

"Ossibus."

"Wow." She exclaimed. "That's really unique! I'm Marceline."

The boy scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, I guess. I think it's supposed to mean something in Latin, but I don't really care about that sort of thing." Marceline nearly forgot about what she was doing as she became lost in their conversation.

Before the thought completely slipped her mind, she quickly asked him, "By the way, have you seen Bonnibel anywhere?" The pale boy looked confused.

"Who?" "You know… Bonnibel? Tall, has pink hair…"

"Oh, you mean Bubblegum?" Marceline suddenly remembered that very few people knew Bonnibel's real name.

"Yes! Yes, have you seen her anywhere?"

Ossibus looked at her with a very apologetic expression. "I can't say have, no. But it doesn't matter at this point, the teachers are about to sort us into our classes."

* * *

><p>Marceline spent the next twenty minutes of her morning waiting for her name to be called out so she could be sorted into a class. Eventually she heard her name and was told to go to room S13. As she moved away from the crowd of students, she made her way into a corridor. She stopped walking. She suddenly remembered that she was new to the school and didn't know its layout at all. Before she had a chance to start panicking again, she heard a familiar voice call her.<p>

"Marceline!"

She turned around and saw Bonnibel running across the hallway towards her.

"There you are!" she gasped. "I was waiting around for your name to be called out, so I could show you around." Marceline was astonished by the sheer kindness that this girl was showing her today. She made a personal note to herself that she would return the favour in any way she could. "C'mon" she said. "You're in my class. I'll show you where S13 is." Bonnibel guided Marceline through the large grey school until they finally reached the room S13.

When they walked in the classroom door, they both noticed that there weren't that many people in their room. It was a rather small classroom that could only fit about twenty to twenty five students at the most. The carpet was blue and the wall was grey just like the rest of the school. Marceline's nose scrunched up a bit as there was a strong smell of deodorant and disinfectant coming from the tables.

Bonnibel whispered into Marceline's ear, "I suppose more people will show up later."

"Yeah, I guess" Marceline whispered back. As they moved through the seats, Marceline noticed Ossibus sitting in the back seat of her class chatting with a few other boys. She gave him a small wave with her left hand and followed Bonnibel to a seat by the window.

As the minutes went by, the room slowly filled up as more and more students entered the room. After about forty long minutes the classroom was full. Marceline tried to keep her head down as the rest of the class chatted away. Bonnibel noticed the way Marceline was sitting oddly in her seat and leaned across their table. She slowly moved to her right and nudged Marceline with her elbow.

"They're going to see your eyes at some point Marceline…"

The older girl didn't even bother looking at her, but instead just smiled and kept her head down, letting her hair block her eyes from view.

"Thanks, but I'd rather deal with them when I'm ready too."

"Hey Bubblegum!"

Bonnibel turned around to see who was talking to her. Sitting behind her were two blonde haired boys who appeared to be brothers. The one who had called her name was the younger one on her right who was wearing a white beanie and a blue polo. "Who's your friend" he asked. Bonnibel looked over at Marceline.

"Oh, this is just Marceline. She's new here."

"Cool. Hey, Marceline, my name's Finn and this is my big brother Jake."

He pointed to the significantly bulker boy sitting next to him. Jake was busy playing with what appeared to be a small hand-held console and wasn't paying attention to anything that was going on around him. He was completely immersed in his game. Finn was about to continue his conversation with the two girls, however he was interrupted by a man with long grey hair walking into the room. From what Marceline could tell, he must've been their teacher.

"Alright class." The teacher said whilst arranging the folders and books on his desk. "My name's Mr. Billy. I'm going to be your teacher this year. I'm sure we'll have no problems as long as you do what I say and do the work that is given to you. Now." He paused for a moment, reaching for a blank sheet of paper across his desk. "Alright then", he continued "I don't know all of your names and I can see we have a few new people with us today." He sat back into his chair and leaned back, holding the sheet up to his face. "I'm going to call the role now. When your name is called I want you to stand up, alright?" The class moaned in agreement.

"Alright then." He cleared his throat. Ash Draziwgar…? How the hell do you pronounce that?" A grey skinned boy with white hair spoke up from the back of the class.

He answered in a bored monotone voice "It's pronounced Drazee-gar. The "w" is silent."

The teacher rolled his eyes and went on with the list.

"Ossibus Lich?"

"Here." Ossibus answered. His voice sounded significantly deeper than earlier when he spoke to Marceline.

"Finn Mertens?"

"Here."

"Jake Mertens?"

"Here." Jake answered in a voice that could only be described as a growl.

"Bubblegum Butler?"

"Here!"

"Linda-Sarah Peterson?"

"Here."

Marceline ever so slightly lifted up her head and scanned the room. She recognised the voice from earlier. She eventually spotted the brown haired girl she'd bumped into. She was wearing a large purple top with a yellow star on each shoulder and didn't seem to notice Marceline looking at her while she was examining her nails.

"Lady Rainicorn?" The teacher stopped for a moment, examining his sheet. "Wait did I read that right? Is that really your name?"

A tall blonde haired girl spoke up. "(Yes that is in fact my name.)"

The teacher looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face. "I'm sorry, what?"

Jake looked up and put away his gaming console and looked towards the teacher.

"She said: Yes, that is in fact my name."

Jake watched as the teacher processed this information.

"What language is she speaking?"

"Korean." Jake answered. "I'm fluent, which is the main reason she got put in our class. She understands English perfectly, she just can't speak it, and so I'm here to translate for her."

Mr. Billy nodded in acceptance of this answer and continued on calling out the role. "You all seem to have very interesting names…" he muttered quietly. "Jessica Lee?"

"Here."

"Matthew Anderson?"

"Here."

"Greg O'Brian?"

"Here."

"Samantha Derry?"

"Here."

"Flaria Princessa?"

"Here."

"Tommy Reeds?"

"Here."

"Ricardio Beat?"

"Here."

"Emily Aldwin?"

"Here."

"Patrick Stewart?"

"Here."

"Marceline Abadeer?"

Silence. Bonnibel elbowed Marceline and angrily whispered to her. "Marceline! That's you!"

Mr. Billy repeated her name. "Marceline Abadeer?"

Marceline raised her head a bit before answering.

"Uh, here."

Marceline could hear Linda-Sarah say, "Weirdo." to her little group of friends. Mr. Billy didn't seem to hear this and called out the rest of the names in his role book.

Marceline moaned to herself as she slid down onto her table with her arms crossed in front of her. Bonnibel looked over at Marceline and positioned herself like Marceline.

She leaned over towards Marceline and quietly whispered in her ear, "Don't let LSP get to you like that. She just all talk and noise. Always has been."

Marceline turned her head and looked at Bonnibel.

"LSP?"

"You know… Linda-Sarah? We call her LSP because it's just easier to say." Marceline sat up and looked straight at Bonnibel.

"Do you _all_ have weird nicknames in this school?"

Bonnibel looked slightly embarrassed as she knew that Marceline was also referring to her own nickname.

"Not _all_ of us…" she answered meekly.

Just then Mr. Billy stood up and spoke to the whole class.

"Alright, the first day is always about introduction. Now I'm planning on showing you all a few films throughout the year as part of our teaching programme. Now some of these films have specific age ratings on them so I'm going to need an idea of how old you all are." The class remained quiet. "Okay then… How many of you are 16? Show of hands." Only two people in the whole class put up their hands, Finn and a red haired girl who was sitting in the front of the class. "Alright…" he said as he scribbled down their names. "How many people are 17?" This time the majority of the class put up their hands, including Bonnibel. "That's great. Now… how many people here are 18?" Only about three people in the class put up their hands. These people were Jake, Lady and Marceline. After writing the last three names down, Mr. Billy started talking again.

Marceline noted on how many times Mr. Billy kept saying 'Alright'. "Alright then, that's just about everything I need to know for now. Class dismissed, you can all go home now."


	6. Chapter 6: Rain

Chapter 6

Marceline groaned underneath her covers as her alarm clock assaulted her ears. She shuffled around in her bed and motioned one of her arms to turn it off, but as soon as she lifted her head from the safety of her red blanket the sunlight stabbed her eyes like a spear. She squinted as she brought the still-ringing alarm clock to her face in order to check the time. It was half seven. Marceline sighed and smashed her face against her pillow. She switched off her alarm and lay under the covers for a couple more minutes before finally deciding it was time to get up. She threw off her blanket and sat up in her bed. She stretched out her arms and let out a tired yawn. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and walked downstairs, still in her warm lavender pyjamas.

"So how was school yesterday?" Simon asked her as she sat down at the breakfast table.

Simon had been working late the night before and so he didn't get to talk to Marceline about her school day. He seemed eager to know how she got on, as he sat across the table from her sipping his cup of coffee whilst still looking at her. Marceline could smell his coffee from the other side of the table. The aroma was strong and yet pleasant.

"It was ok." she answered.

She swirled her cereal around in her bowl with her spoon like a witch would churn the ingredients of a potion in her cauldron. Simon leaned back and smiled at her.

"Well I'm glad to hear that." He stood up and brought his now empty mug over to the sink and began scrubbing it. "Oh by the way Marceline, I'm leaving for work a bit earlier than usual today, so I'll be out of the house before you." He placed his mug on a tray next to the sink and left it to dry and began wiping his hands with a towel as he turned around. "Can I trust you to lock up?"

Marceline shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

><p>Marceline began her long twenty minute walk to the school. Her head felt cold in the wind as she hadn't bothered to dry her hair after her shower. As Marceline approached the school gates she heard someone call her name.<p>

"Hey Marceline." She turned around to see a pale boy jogging towards her.

"Oh hi Ossibus!"

Ossibus stopped right in front of her. He was holding a sheet of paper. From his body language alone, he made it clear that it was intended for Marceline. "This is our class timetable." He said as he handed her the sheet of paper.

"You left class yesterday before you could get it off Mr. Billy. And please, stop calling me Ossibus. I prefer Lich."

She looked at the peculiar green eyed boy with her curious red eyes.

"You want me to call you by your _last_ name? Seems a bit formal don't you think?"

Ossibus rolled his eyes at her. "Look, you had no problem calling Bubblegum, Bonnibel, so why should this so be much different? And anyway, I hate the name Ossibus. Sounds like a maths problem."

Marceline paused, her eyes wide. "Wait! How did you even know about-"

Ossibus looked at her with his dark emerald eyes.

"Please. I found out Bonnie's real name years ago and I'm one of the only ones who did it without being told. I'm a lot smarter than you'd think. I pick up on little details about an individual and I can figure out even the most reserved or complex person in a matter of minutes. Bubblegum on the other hand? She can do it in a matter of seconds."

He moved away from her slightly and fixed the strap on his schoolbag.

"Don't go around thinking you can hide anything from her Marcy. She probably already knows about all of your little insecurities."

Marceline eyed him aggressively.

"Is that supposed to _intimidate_ me?"

Ossibus just let out a somewhat menacing and unsettling laugh.

"Glob no. Bubblegum's an angel. A can of seaweed is more likely to commit bad actions than her."

As he was about to walk away he suddenly stopped and looked back at Marceline. "Oh, and she's probably looking for you." He smirked at her, the only form emotion he had displayed for the entire duration of the time that Marceline had known him.

"I think you two really hit it off." Marceline raised an eyebrow as she watched him walk away.

"You're a bit weird Lich." She called. "But in a good way I guess." He kept walking but raised his arm just slightly above his head and made gesture with his hand. The peace sign. Marceline laughed to herself as she walked off to her classroom.

* * *

><p>Marceline approached her classroom as she walked down the corridor. As she was about to open the door she felt someone push her against the wall. The back of her head smacked against the plasterboard and she saw stars.<p>

"Where the hell were you?"

It was Bonnibel. And for some reason, the otherwise upbeat pink girl was furious. Her cheeks were even redder than the straps on Marceline's bag. Marceline just looked at her with a confused expression, completely unsure of how to react.

"W-What are you talking about…?" was all Marceline could stutter.

Bonnibel slammed her hand against the wall.

"I waited and I WAITED for you outside your house, I rang the bell and I knocked on the door I don't know how many times! I told you I was going to knock for you every day! Why didn't you answer the door? And more importantly why didn't you tell me you were leaving early? I was almost LATE because of you! And I'm _never_ late! Do you have any idea how that could've affected my record?"

Bonnibel saw the fear in Marceline's crimson eyes. She looked deep into them and could only see confusion, hurt, a desire to reconcile and a single tear welling up in the corner of her eye. Marceline had never been good at getting people to like her. And now, Bonnibel, the only person who had ever shown any sign of actually enjoying her company was screaming abuse at her. Bonnibel suddenly realized what she was doing and took a few steps to back away from Marceline. She brought her hands up to the back of her head and just held them there.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I completely overreacted there!"

She looked over at Marceline who was still trying process what had just happened in front of her. Mere moments ago she was outraged with the confused raven haired girl cowering in front of her. But one look into those innocent red eyes just melted away all of her resolve.

Marceline just stared at the pink girl, not sure of what to think. One minute she was being yelled at and the next she was receiving a completely unprovoked apology. However through all of these conflicting thoughts and confusing emotions one thought kept coming back to her.

"Y-You waited for me? W-Why…?"

Marceline was still against the wall. Her words just fell out of her mouth. Bonnibel looked at Marceline with a face filled with sorrow.

"Because that's what friends do. We collect each other and talk on the way to school. Practically everybody does it." Marceline just stared at Bonnibel, her mouth half open. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"_I have… a friend…?_" she thought to herself.

Bonnibel was confused by Marceline's reaction. Suddenly it clicked.

"You've never had a friend before, have you Marceline?"

It was the only thing that made sense to her. How else could somebody not know the standard 'hanging out' aspect of friendship, unless they'd never been in a situation where they had to? Marceline's mouth hung open a bit. Marceline just stood there in awe of how the pink girl had read her so easily. She thought back to Lich's words.

"_I can figure out the most reserved or complex person in a matter of minutes. Bubblegum on the other hand? She can do it in seconds._"

Before she realized what was happening she was in Bonnibel's arms. The pink girl had her arms wrapped around her with her left and at cradling the back of Marceline's head against her shoulder. She just gave her a big squeeze before finally ending the hug. Marceline just stood there dumbstruck. Nobody except for Simon had ever held her that way before. Bonnibel was about to speak when she suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a hug from Marceline herself. She whispered in her ear.

"Nobody except Simon has ever held you like this, have they?"

Marceline just held her tighter when she said this. Bonnibel began pat her on the back.

"It's ok, it's ok. I didn't mean anything by it. It doesn't matter anymore."

Marceline wiped away her tears and fixed her hair so that it would cover face when she looked down. The two girls just walked into the classroom and carried on with their day, leaving behind what had just happened between them in the corridor.

* * *

><p>Marceline and Bonnibel were in separate English classes. Their core class occasionally got split up for certain subjects and as a result there were times were they were in different rooms. Marceline sat next to Ash Draziwgar. The white haired boy just looked at her with a smile every now and again.<p>

"So you're the new girl, aren't you?"

Marceline nodded.

"What was your name again?" he asked.

"It's Marceline."

Ash smiled again.

"Cool name. So tell me, why do you always wear your hair over your head like that? You trying to hide your pretty face?"

Marceline ever so slightly shifted her head in his direction, but didn't look at him directly. She clenched her fist a bit, making sure that Ash knew to end their conversation and that she wasn't in the mood for talking.

Ash turned away from her, eyebrows raised. "Okaaaay. Another time then."

* * *

><p>Before the final hours of the school day, the clouds in the sky had turned a bleak grey colour. The students who had dressed for the warm weather that day didn't have a chance, for within the last few minutes of the school day, rain poured out of the sky like water falling from a showerhead. Marceline and Bonnibel unfortunately couldn't walk home together that day as Bonnibel had chess club after school, so Marceline had to brave the cold, windy weather alone.<p>

Within the first eight minutes of her walk home, Marceline was soaked to the skin. The torrential rain and the howling winds had consumed everything. Holding her schoolbag over her head didn't do much in regards to keeping herself dry. Her clothes had glued themselves to her body and her hair fluttered across her cold wet face as the wind battered her. She examined her surroundings in an attempt to find a temporary shelter. Anything just to get out of the heavy rain.

After a couple of minutes, she got lucky. It was small gathering of trees in the park, whose branches were keeping out most of the rain. Marceline ran across the road towards the sheltered spot and dumped her schoolbag on the dry grass. She leaned against one of the trees with her arms crossed and just watched the rain as it swamped the park. As she was rubbing her upper arms in an effort to keep warm, Marceline could hear a small group of people walking in her general direction. She heard a voice coming from behind her. It was rough and had a street twang embedded in it.

"Hey you! Got a smoke?!"

Marceline turned around to see where the voice was coming from but was instead met with a fist coming straight towards her face.

* * *

><p><strong>Well it's been about 6 chapters or so and I think it's about time a started to communicate with you guys! I'm currently working on chapter 7 right now as you're reading this, so worry not! The story isn't over! Yet.<strong>

**Anyway, what I'd REALLY like is to hear your opinions on this story. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you would like in future chapters etc.**

**So if you guys/and gals want to read more, then please review! Your opinion means a lot to me!**


	7. Chapter 7: Urgency

Chapter 7

Marceline's head hit the grass with a loud thump. Her head exploded with pain as she began to see stars. She had only time to shift her face when she saw the boy's fist coming straight towards her face. While she was unable to avoid the punch, she did manage to avoid getting a broken nose but at the cost of a now very bruised cheek. She lay there in the grass clutching her face, screaming in pain.

"Shut the fuck up!"

Marceline felt a kick against her ribs. There were boys and girls in this group. And none of them were holding back. They didn't give a reason, they didn't stop to explain. They just hit her, and hit her. Again and again. Through the pain, beatings and the shouts Marceline spotted one familiar face in the crowd. She saw LSP.

As she lay there curled up in a ball while fists and kicks hailed down upon her, she couldn't help but wonder why? Why was she being attacked? She had only been going to school for two days and apparently somebody had already taken a disliking to her. "Red-eyed emo freak!" she heard them shout. She could see LSP continuously kicking her, nastily laughing her head off.

"_How do they know about my eyes?"_ she thought to herself. _"They couldn't have seen them, could they…?"_

Marceline didn't have time to think about the how's and why's for much longer as she felt somebody stamp on her left arm. She shrieked with pain. She struggled to turn her head as she looked up to see LSP hulking over her. The larger girl pushed down all of her weight on Marceline's arm, almost breaking it. LSP just leaned forward towards Marceline and looked directly into her crimson eyes. She smirked.

"Red-eyed emo freak."

With that, she lifted her foot off her arm and stamped on Marceline's head, knocking her out.

* * *

><p>It was still raining when Marceline finally came to. It was almost dark outside and her head was splitting. She must've been unconscious for at least nearly two hours. The scent of wet grass and mud dominated her nostrils. Her entire body was shaking, a combination of both the cold and the initial shock of what had just happened to her. Her left forearm was completely purple while the rest of her arms and legs were covered in their own individual bruises. The cold had slightly numbed the pain for her, but not by much. Her entire body ached. She slowly crawled over towards her bag and tried to stand up, only to fall back down. After several failed attempts, Marceline finally managed to steady herself against the tree. She picked up her wet schoolbag and attempted to walk. As she tried to take a single step, a sharp pain struck her in her right knee causing her to collapse. Marceline groaned to herself as she tried her best to ignore her injuries and stand back up again.<p>

When she finally stood up, Marceline had a proper look at herself. Her clothes were a bit torn in some places and she was covered in mud and grass. Setting her priorities on getting to Simon's house, Marceline began the difficult walk back home, while the rain continued to pelt her mercilessly.

* * *

><p>Simon heard a knock on the front door. He folded away his newspaper and got up from his soft brown couch in the sitting room. He cleaned his glasses as he made his way to his home's entrance. "Don't worry! I'm on my way!" he called to whoever was waiting on the other side for him. Once he was satisfied with the polish on his glasses, he put them on and stretched out an arm to open the door.<p>

"Oh hi Bubblegum! What are you doing here?" The pink girl smiled at Simon as she swayed from side to side with her hands behind her back, like an eager child expecting a present.

"Hi, I just came to see if Marceline was home? I know she's having trouble with maths and we sort of agreed that I would help her out with her homework."

Simon froze. "Hang on, you mean she isn't with you?" Bonnibel cocked her head to the side slightly. "Well I'm here by myself aren't I…?" From Simon's expression Bonnibel knew something was off. "Is she not home?"

"No." Simon said, fear slowly sinking into him like a cold brick on his chest. "She isn't. But I-I'm sure she's fine…" Simon didn't seem too sure of himself. He wasn't used to Marceline being outside by herself without explanation. "You're more than welcome to wait for her inside if you like. After all you came all this way and in _that_ weather!" he pointed towards the rain.

Bonnibel smiled at the brown haired man. "Sure, why not? Anyway, I'm sure that she'll be back soon. She would have to be out of her mind to stay outside for too long in that weather!" Simon let the pink haired girl into the warm house and closed the front door.

***One hour and forty minutes later***

Marceline held a hand to her side. She looked like she'd been hit by a car. The rain continued to fall, as if it was tormenting her. Her legs felt like lead and her lower ribs hurt every time she attempted to stand up fully straight. Her bag of books felt like it was filled with concrete as she carried herself down the street. She could almost see Simon's house at the end of the road. She just had a little further to go.

"_If I ever find those assholes that did this to me, I'm going to beat the ever living crap out of them!"_ she thought angrily. She was so enraged, that steam appeared to be coming off her head.

She placed a hand on the front garden gate in order to support herself as she paused to take a break. Just a few more steps and she would be in her home and out of the rain. Marceline pushed herself away from the gate and she groggily made her way to the door. Exhausted, she just leaned against the wall of the house and rang the doorbell. She barely had time to move her tired hand away from the button when she saw the front door flung open by Simon.

"Marceline! What happened to you?" Simon frantically rushed a bruised Marceline into the house and sat her down on a chair in the kitchen. Marceline let her eyes close as she sank into the chair, relived to be in her home. She heard a second voice. One of her eyes snapped open and she saw a faint blur of pink in the corner of her eye.

"Oh, is Marceline finally hom-? Oh my Glob, Marcy!" Marceline saw a pink girl come rushing towards her. Bonnibel got down on one knee in front of Marceline and began to immediately examine her wounds. Marceline couldn't even talk at this point let alone respond.

"How did this happen? Who did this to you?"

Marceline's eyes were almost completely closed at this point, but they were open enough to see the tears on Bonnibel's face. Simon came into the room holding a first aid kit. He kneeled down on the floor and opened up the box. What followed was a roar of pure rage.

"Globdamnit! It's practically empty!" There're no bandages in here and no disinfectant for cleaning the wounds!"

Simon hurled the green box across the room and yelled at the ceiling. Bonnibel's head spun around and she began urgently talking to Simon.

"Simon! We need to bring her over to my house; we definitely have a full first aid kit and a nurse that can look after Marceline. It's about a three hour drive from here to the nearest hospital and my house is much closer and we need to treat these injuries as quickly as possible!"

If Simon was going to argue he would've started now, but the only thing that was on his mind was helping Marceline. "In my car." he said. Bonnibel held the door open as Simon carried Marceline to his car. The last things Marceline heard was the rumbling of the car's engine as it drove off and Bonnibel shouting directions at Simon.

* * *

><p>Marceline awoke in a warm pink bed. As her eyes fluttered open, she began to examine the room that she was in. Nearly everything, from the furniture to the walls was pink. Marceline lifted the up the blanket that was covering her and found that she was in purple nightdress and that part of her body was covered in bandages. She heard the clicking of a door opening. As she looked to her right, Marceline spotted Bonnibel peering in the bedroom door. Marceline smiled at her.<p>

"It's ok. You can come in if you want." She said weakly.

Marceline winced as she tried to sit herself up in her bed, causing Bonnibel to rush over to her and gently push her back down on the bed.

"Nonononono. You're not getting up, you. You have a cracked rib and sprained wrist. If you try to move, you'll only agitate your injuries." Bonnibel brushed the hair away from her face and smiled at Marceline. "And we wouldn't want that would we?"

Marceline just grinned and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to globbing kill them." she giggled.

The pink girl raised an eyebrow. "Well ok then. Just make sure nobody finds the bodies."

The two girls just stared at each other for a couple of seconds before they both burst out laughing. After they'd calmed down Bonnibel sat down next Marceline. Bonnibel just stared into Marceline's red eyes whilst Marceline looked back into hers.

"So where exactly am I?" Marceline asked, breaking their little trance. Bonnibel's voice changed tone a little. As if she was both proud and nervous all at once. "You… are… in my house!"

Marceline's eyebrows moved to a near frowning expression. "This is your _home_?" The pink girl smiled at her. "Yup!"

Marceline wasn't hiding her surprise very well. "Wow. I mean, wow. This room alone looks huge! You've _got_ to show me the rest of the house later."

"Yeah." Bonnibel agreed, as she patted her friend's shoulder. "Later. But speaking of 'show', you've just reminded me of something very important." Bonnibel stood up off the bed and began to walk out of the room. "Just hang on a sec, I'll be right back."

A few minutes later Bonnibel popped her head through the bedroom door. "Hey, Marcyyy. I got a surprise for you!" Marceline watched the pink girl with a pair of curious eyes.

"What is it?"

As soon as she asked the question Bonnibel came in the door holding Marceline's axe-bass.

"My bass!"

Bonnibel giggled a little bit as she lay the instrument down against the wall next to Marceline. "Simon told me you loved playing the bass, so while you were being looked after I nipped back to your house and just grabbed it from your room. I figured that you might want to play it at some point."

Bonnibel felt Marceline's arms wrap around her as she gave her a big hug. "Thank you soooo much!"

Marceline tended to her beloved instrument as Bonnibel got up to leave the room. "I'll leave you two alone." She giggled.

Marceline watched as Bonnibel closed the door. She picked up her beloved bass and held it close. After a couple of minutes of tweaking it, Marceline let her fingers drop on the cords as she began strumming.

"_I look in to your eyes, and gaze at your pretty face,_

_I look into your eyes, and I just wanna close the space,_

_I want to show my love for you, and tell you what I've found,_

_I want to tell you something now, that I can only express through sound…._

_And if I ever see you blue,_

_Then I'll promise to, look after you,_

_And if I ever make you sad,_

_Then I'll promise to take back, what I said._

_You took away my pain,_

_But I have to ask, why?_

_For what could you possibly gain?_

_By ending the reason I cry?_

_I'm lucky to have you as my friend,"_

_I'm lucky that I know you._

_Whenever you're here my suffering ends…"_

Marceline paused.

"_But do you know that too?"_

On the other side of the bedroom door Bonnibel was sitting down with her head against the door. After the song had ended Bonnibel smiled to herself and left the hallway to go downstairs.

Marceline felt a low buzz coming from her phone. She picked it up from the nightstand and flipped it open. It was a text from Lich.

* * *

><p><strong>Hmm... I wonder what Ossibus Lich wants...?<strong>

**Welp. That was chapter 7! Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you thought! Your feedback is what drives this story forward!**


	8. Chapter 8: Lich

Chapter 8

Marceline held her phone up to her face and positioned herself more comfortably in the bed. She clicked on the Messages icon and then on Lich's contacts icon. She began reading.

"_Hey, Marceline it's Lich. Bonnibel told me about what happened to you. But she also told me you're doing alright so there's no real reason to worry about you I guess. Anyway there's a concert coming up in a couple of months and since I can tell you like music from your personality, I was wondering if maybe you'd be interested?_

_Just text me back if you're into it or not. Anyway, get well soon."_

Marceline pondered the thought of going to a concert. She twiddled with her thumbs on the black phone before texting back Lich.

"_Who's playing?"_ she wrote back.

A couple of seconds later her phone buzzed again.

"_The Undead Magicians"_

"_Sounds like fun."_

"_Cool. I give you the details when I see you in school."_

Marceline closed her phone and left it on the nightstand. She'd heard of the heavy metal band The Undead Magicians but she'd never seen them play live. Thinking about music made her fingers itch for the strings of her bass. As she was about to reach for her bass Marceline saw Bonnibel slowly push the door open with her shoulder as if she were carrying something. She walked into the room holding a platter with a bowl of soup on it. It smelled like chicken soup.

"This. Is for you." The pink haired girl said as she lay down the platter in front of the raven haired girl lying in her bed. "Careful now." she warned. "It's hot."

Marceline looked up at her pink haired friend. "Ok, wow. You've gotta take it easy Bonnie. I'm only a little injured! There's really no need to make a fuss over me like this."

Bonnibel shook her head upon hearing her friend's words. "No, I can't. Not after what happened today." Marceline frowned; her red irises consuming her pupils causing her to appear as though she had pure red demonic eyes.

"Why's that…?"

"Because it's my fault!" she blurted. Her speech quickened and her face began to show distress. Had Marceline been paying slightly more attention, she might have noticed a few tears welling up in the corners of Bonnibel's eyes. "None of this would've happened if I hadn't left you alone! If I had been there… if there were two of us you might not have been attacked! And if this is what's going to happen every time I leave you alone, then I can't leave you by yourself! If this is what's going to happen, then promise that I'm not ever going to leave your side ever again!"

Bonnibel was holding down Marceline's wrist and was staring right into her eyes in an attempt to show her sincerity. There was a pause. Marceline took Bonnibel's hand and softly raised it off her wrist.

"If anything were to happen to you because I wasn't around… I-I just can't help but think it would be my fault…"

"Bonnie. I'm sorry but the fact that you're_ this_ worried about me is absurd. You've only known me for two days."

"I know that. But… it's just that… you're still a friend. And as your friend, I have a right to be worried about you."

Marceline chuckled, making her chest hurt. "Good point." She smiled. "So how long do I have to stay in this horribly pink room of yours?" Marceline teased.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with pink!" she said, lightly punching Marceline's shoulder.

The two girls just sat there on the bed giggling. When they'd both recovered from their little laughing fit, Marceline began to tuck into the soup that Bonnibel had left for her. They both talked for hours and hours until Bonnibel eventually realized it was past midnight. The pink haired girl got up off her bed and made her way towards the bedroom door.

"Guh night Marcy…" she yawned. She didn't get to hear a reply from the older girl as she was already fast asleep. They must've been talking for so long that Bonnibel simply didn't notice Marceline doze off. She smiled at the sight before her. Watching Marceline's chest slowly rise and descend with every breath, listening to the faint whistling sound that came from her nose as she slept. Bonnibel couldn't help but remark on how innocent she looked at that moment. She left the pale girl to sleep in peace as she closed the pink wooden door.

* * *

><p><strong>*Two days later*<strong>

Marceline and Bonnibel were sitting in the principal's office. The room was mostly beige in colour. The ceiling was grey and the carpet was a dull yellow and the only window had been positioned in the way it would be in a prison cell, high up and near the top of the ceiling. Neither of them said a word to each other nor did they look directly at one another. The two girls heard the door click shut behind them. A tall man dressed in a dark grey suit walked in. His hair was fair in colour with tints of blonde on the edges; he wore his shirt buttoned all the way up to the top and wore no tie. He had a small pouch attached to the side of his belt and wore a pair of brown leather shoes. His face was scrunched up and his clenched fists quivered slightly, as if he was holding in an unbearable amount of anger within him.

He made his way to the other side of the desk and sat down before the two girls. The man brought his hands together, with his elbows on the table and rested his chin upon them. He didn't stay in this pose for very long as he leaned back into his chair and picked up a single piece of paper. He frowned as he looked at the sheet of paper, as though he were struggling to read it. His eyes shifted in the direction of Marceline, who was sitting there with her head pointed towards the ground. He spoke to her in a voice that would've been considered whiney by the standards of most.

"Is all of this true?" he asked without looking away from the page.

Marceline and Bonnibel both nodded without saying a word. The principal exploded from his chair and slammed the sheet of paper on his desk and screamed with so much rage and fury that the entire school would've had to have been wearing ear muffs not to hear it.

"This behaviour is utterly UNACCEPTABLE!"

Marceline jumped in her seat a little. Bonnibel sat there unfazed. As though she were used to hearing the principal scream at students like this all the time. The enraged man stood up straight and fixed the collar of his shirt before sitting back down with albeit a much calmer expression on his face.

"I assure you Miss Abadeer that we will find the students responsible for this attack. We here at Pendleton High will not stand for such UNACCEPTABLE behaviour."

He stuck his and into his pouch, opened a packet of chewing gum and popped a piece into his mouth. The action of chewing the gum appeared to calm him down as he slowly retreated into his seat.

"We will find the students responsible for assaulting you whether they are from this school or another. Believe me I am _not_ going to let such UNACCEPT…able behaviour slide or my name isn't Lemongrab!"

The two girls exited Lemongrab's office and into the empty hallway. Bonnibel breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well I have to say, that went _far_ better than I expected."

Marceline raised an eyebrow as she watched Bonnibel's reaction to their trip to the principal's office.

"What do you mean; better than you expected?"

Bonnibel just laughed as the two of them walked down the hallway to get to class.

"I know you're new here and all so you probably don't know any of this." The pink haired girl began. "But principal Lemongrab is by far one of the most unreasonable and unfair people on the planet. He's known to give students complaining about others breaking the rules detentions themselves. That man is always on edge. Like a bomb ready to explode, anything can set him off."

Marceline thought about this for a moment.

"Maybe it's because you're new here" she continued "Or maybe it's just the severity of your case, but either way; we got off easy."

Marceline remained silent as they walked down the hall. Bonnibel immediately took notice.

"Marcy, what's wrong?" she asked as she placed a concerned hand on her friend's arm.

"I-It's nothing…" the raven haired girl replied. "I just want to… go home for now…"

Bonnibel frowned. "Marceline, you can't just cut school in the middle of the day. And considering you just came from the principal's office after reporting misconduct, you'd be almost guaranteed to get caught."

Marceline looked at her pink haired friend in the eyes as she tried to come up with an excuse. However she couldn't argue with her friend's logic. If she cut school in the middle of the day, she was almost certain to get into trouble. And a possible detention with her attackers was the last thing she wanted. Marceline threw up her hands in defeat.

"Fine! You win! You stupid… smart person!"

The two friends just smiled at each other as both girls shared yet another laugh together and walked towards their class.

* * *

><p>Marceline sat in History class, bored out of her mind. As she sat there with her arms crossed on the table with half her head buried in them, she could feel somebody poking her back with a pen. She turned around only to see a blonde boy wearing a funny hat staring at her manically.<p>

"What do you want Finn?"

The sixteen year old leaned across his desk and brought his voice down low so nobody could hear him except for Marceline.

"Can I talk to you later after school? I kinda want to talk about something important so could you come by yourself? It's really private…"

Marceline just raised an eyebrow and looked at the awkward and yet kind-hearted boy.

"Alright, but if you try to pull anything funny I'll break your nose, got it?"

Most people would've been put off by this response but the young blonde just grinned madly.

"Thanks Marceline!"

* * *

><p>Bonnibel and Marceline were chatting with each other whilst they walked through the crowded hallway. As they were about to walk into their next class they were stopped by a tall boy dressed mostly in black. Marceline felt a big smile spread across her face.<p>

"Hi Lich! What's up?"

Lich leaned one shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms. He looked at Bonnibel and gave her a half-smile.

"Hey Bonni- sorry, Bubblegum, could you give us a moment?"

"No problem." She replied as she turned away to walk into the classroom. "Oh and Marcy, could you come over and sit next to me in class today? I want to talk about something with you."

"Alright Bonnie!"

Marceline turned back around to look at Lich. She was puzzled. _"Why do so many people want to talk to me today…?"_

"So, you still interested in the concert?" Lich asked, his voice still maintaining a somewhat monotone quality.

"Yeah, totally. So when is it?"

"It's in about four and a half months. The exact date and location is written on the ticket."

He handed her two black and red tickets with golden writing on them.

"Wait, why are you giving me-?"

"I have about four tickets." He answered. "The second one is so that you can bring a friend with you. Take whoever you like, or don't take anyone at all. I don't mind either way."

Marceline blushed a little as she smiled.

"So that leaves _you_ with two as well. Who are you taking?"

Lich just smirked at her. "I'm taking my friend Ash. The boy who sits next to you in English."

Marceline stood up fully straight and flopped the two tickets in her hand and lightly slapped Lich's chest with them whilst swaying her shoulders back and forth.

"Well I guess I'll see you at the concert then!" she grinned, unintentionally revealing her abnormally sharp canines. Lich took notice of this.

"Alright then. See you there." He said as he walked passed her and into the classroom.

Marceline soon followed him into the room and almost ran over to where Bonnibel was sitting. She had a huge smile on her face.

"Listen Marcy, there's something you should probably know about-" Marceline didn't allow her to finish her sentence as she just interrupted her without any apparent knowledge that her friend had even spoken.

"Oh my glob, oh my glob! I think Lich likes me!" Bonnibel leaned back into her seat with a huge smirk on her face.

"_Really_?" She asked with a half-smile on her face. She appeared to be enjoying herself. "What makes you think that?"

"It's like…" Marceline began, or at least she tried to, but her words were failing her. "Ever since I started he's just been so nice to me and just really helpful and I think he _might_ have asked me out!" she said excitedly.

"Well you're right about _one_ thing." The pink haired girl responded. "It _is_ very out of character for Lich to be _this_ nice to somebody."

"So do you think he likes me?!"

"He doesn't like you Marcy." She answered bluntly.

"Wait, what? What makes you think that? Hang on… are you jello?"

"Jello…?"

Marceline frowned at her. "Jealous." She replied. "But seriously what makes you say that?"

Bonnibel didn't answer with words. She just looked Marceline deep in the eyes and burst out laughing.

"What? What is it? Why are you laughing? Is it because- oh my glob is he gay? He's gay isn't he?!"

This just made Bonnibel laugh even harder. She was pretty loud but the chatter in the classroom drowned out the noise she was making.

"He's not gay either. Far from it actually."

"Then what _is_ it?" she was practically begging for an answer now. The utter confusion and worry in Marceline's eyes was just getting too much for Bonnibel. She couldn't stop laughing.

"This… _ha, ha!_ this is actually what I wanted… to talk to you about!"

"WHAT_ IS_ IT?" Marceline pleaded.

Bonnibel turned and grinned at her. "He's asexual."

Marceline paused.

"He's what…?"

"Asexual. It means he's not really attracted to anyone or that interested in having a relationship. He's like the opposite of a bisexual."

"You mean… he doesn't like guys _or_ girls…?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Marceline fell back into her seat. "Wow, I feel dumb." She turned her head and looked at Bonnibel. "Well… he did give me two tickets to a concert that's happening in four months." She showed her tickets to Bonnibel. "He said I could bring a friend. You wanna come with me?"

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and smiled at Marceline. "Sure, why not?"

* * *

><p><strong>Well that concert sounds like fun. But I have to say... I wonder what's going on with Finn?<strong>

**Well this chapter came out _really_ early. What, it's only been like 3 days since I last updated? Lol I work fast. In all seriousness though today's chapter came out early because I've been sick for the last couple of days and there hasn't much to do but write. That coupled with the fact that because it rains all the time, I'm spending most of my free time indoors doing this. Damn Irish weather is a pain in the butt!**

**Anyway don't forget to leave your reviews. It kind of motivates me.**


	9. Chapter 9: Who

Chapter 9

For the entirety of Geography class, Bonnibel continued to tease Marceline for her little crush with Lich.

"You were sooo sure!" the pink girl giggled.

"Shut uuuuuuup" Marceline groaned with her head flat on the table with her arms crossed.

"You were all like: He gave me tickets! He must like me!"

"Stooooooooop!"

"Ok, ok. Fine. I'll stop." She reassured her friend.

"Thank you…" the raven haired girl grumbled.

Bonnibel slowly approached Marceline's ear, unbeknownst to the moody teen. She got so close to her without the other girl's knowledge that her lips were practically millimetres away from her ear. She held her breath, making sure Marceline didn't know she was there yet. And then, without warning, she shouted into Marceline's ear.

"Smoochy, smoochy!"

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

* * *

><p>The wind blew Marceline's hair across her face as she waited at the school gate. She'd told Bonnibel that she was waiting for a friend and that she could go on ahead. Which wasn't exactly a lie, but nevertheless the dark haired girl still felt somewhat guilty. The pinkette was still very much bothered over what had happened two days ago but Marceline assured her that she would be fine. After much convincing, Bonnibel reluctantly walked home with her other friend Lady. Around twelve minutes after the final school bell went off, Finn finally showed up at the school gate. Marceline signalled him over with her hand to let him know she was there. Once he spotted her, he jogged over towards her.<p>

"Alright Finn, what'd you want to talk about?" she asked casually.

The young blonde scratched the back of his head as he approached her. He looked around to ensure that no one he knew was around and that nobody was close enough to eavesdrop. He sucked his lower lip into his mouth and bit down upon it. He exhaled rather loudly and began speaking.

"I uh… need some advice…"

This peaked Marceline's curiosity. She watched the teen with a greater interest.

"Advice about what?"

"Well, I would normally ask Jake and all, but… he's not a… girl so…"

"Whoo, whoo! Is little Finny crushin on someone?" she asked with a smirk.

"I… eh, maybe."

"Soooo?" Marceline began. She walked over to the young blonde and leaned against the stone brick wall next to him with her arms crossed. "Who is it? I'm gonna need some kind of idea of who this is if you want my 'advice'."

Finn stood there with his head pointing to the dirty pavement and his hands in his pockets.

"It's boblgrm…" he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, it's who? I didn't quite catch that, Finn."

"It's Bubblegum." He replied, now looking at Marceline, his head no longer facing the ground. He raven haired girl didn't even appear remotely surprised at this revelation. In fact, she pretty much just rolled her eyes.

"What the hell Finn?"

Finn seemed taken aback by what he'd just heard. "W-what…?"

"I know I'm new to this school and all that but, globdamnit! Dude EVERYONE in this school knows that you have a thing for Bubblegum. Apparently they've known for _years_."

Finn's cheeks were slowly starting to turn red. He hid his hands in his pockets as his head crept down in the direction of the ground again. Marceline sighed and fixed the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"What do you even _like_ about Bubblegum?"

The sixteen year old paused for a bit. As if he'd never previously thought about this before.

"Well, uh… she's really beautiful…" he stopped for half a second "and really smart!" he added quickly. "And she's really nice to everyone and, and…" The younger boy looked up at her and awkwardly shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "That's all I got…"

Marceline brought her palm to her face and shook her head.

"Alright, little dude. You want my advice?" she put her hands on his shoulders "Here's my advice: Bonni- uh, Bubblegum has known for a _long_ time that you've liked her and from what I've heard, she's _never_ returned those feelings."

"Ok that's nice, can we get to the advice part now?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm not finished." She frowned. "Listen to me; I may not have known you or Bubblegum as long as the rest of the people in this school have, but what I _do_ know is that you're wasting your time. You're a great guy Finn, but no offence you're also a little dumb. I think you should move on and start paying attention to the other girls in this place. And from what I hear" she said with a smirk "You're quite popular with some of the _other_ girls in this school." Marceline let out a small laugh and gave him a little wink.

Finn looked halfway between Marceline and the pavement.

"That was some pretty shitty advice" he grinned. "Thanks Marceline."

"No problem Finn." She smiled. "I'm gonna take off now ok?"

The gusty wind blew Marceline's hair into her eyes as she turned around and began walking home.

"Thanks again Marceline!" she heard him call. She just slid her hands into her jacket pockets and rolled her crimson eyes. _"What an idiot…"_ she smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>*Several weeks later*<strong>

The sun's heat swallowed up Marceline's room. She lay on her bed in a pair of hot-pants and a tank top. Her curtains were almost completely closed in order to keep out most of the sun's light and warmth; however it could only do so much. The light crept in through the crack in her curtains and shone a beam across the room.

"_Oh my Glob! It's freakin autumn, why's it so hot?!" _she thought to herself.

The raven haired girl wiped the sweat from her brow and opened up her phone. She scrolled through her contacts until she found Bonnibel. Marceline clicked on the name and began typing.

"_Hey, Bonnie it's Marcy. Watcha doin right now?"_

A few minutes passed before Marceline heard her phone buzzing on her wooden bedside table. She picked up the phone, flipped it open and read the reply.

"_Not much, doing an experiment"_

"_Oooh. An experiment? Anything I can help with?"_

"_It's a science experiment Marcy."_

"_Oh… well it's too hot to go outside anyway. I'm stuck in my house D:"_

"_lol"_

Marceline smiled to herself and looked longingly at her blood red axe-bass. She wanted to play it so badly. Her fingers itched for the cords, her ears ached for the sound and her mind begged for some kind of release. However the intense heat was making her feel tired. Her muscles didn't want to move and her eyes didn't want to see. Her entire body craved sleep. She just wanted to rest. Marceline looked at the screen of her phone one more time.

"_So u still on for the concert in a few weeks' time?"_

Marceline got a rather quick response from Bonnibel.

"_Of course. Why would you think otherwise…?"_

"_No reason, just checking. Btw are u sure that you don't need my help with ur little science thingy?"_

"_Nah. You'd probably just make it blow up"_

"_Blow up?That sounds awesome! Ok now I really want to help you!"_

"_Bye Marcy :P"_

Marceline sighed and stared at her white ceiling as she lay flat on her red bed. She took one last look at her axe-bass before she felt her eyes closing and sleep coming over for a visit.

Marceline was awoken by a soft buzzing coming from her phone. She groggily raised her tired head and brushed her long black hair away from her face. She yawned as she rubbed the sleep out from her eyes. Marceline picked up the phone and looked at the screen. "Unknown Number." It read. Marceline frowned and clicked on the message.

"_We know where you are now, emo."_

Marceline froze. She quickly sat up, grabbed her phone and began typing.

"_Who the hell is this? And how the fuck did you get my number?"_

She sent the text. Seconds passed. There was a pause. A silence. The eerie wait was suddenly interrupted by a low buzzing from Marceline's phone.

"_So it _is_ you. See you soon, you red-eyed emo freak."_

The message was only letters and pixels, but Marceline could practically hear the laughter and cockiness behind every word. Marceline flipped her phone shut and turned it off before throwing it to the far side of her bed. It landed with a soft thud as Marceline brought her hands up to her face. An uncomfortable feeling was beginning to spread throughout her body. She felt unease creep up her spine and tickle the small of her back. A cold sensation sank through the gaps in her ribs and settled in the centre of her chest. Her breathing slowed and her mind raced.

"_I can't believe it..."_ She thought. _"They followed me."_

Marceline jumped a little when she heard a light knocking coming from the other side of her bedroom door.

"Hey Marcy, we're going to have dinner soon, so I need you downstairs in the next two minutes, ok? There's uh… someone I'd like you to meet."

Simon's voice trailed off as he finished his last sentence. Marceline could've sworn she'd heard something slightly off about his voice. Almost as if she was detecting… shame...?

Marceline sighed as Simon's footsteps grew quieter and quieter as he descended the stairs. Marceline turned her head to look at her clock. Her eyes widened but her expression remained the same.

"_Wow."_ She thought to herself. _"I can't believe I spent most of the day asleep."_

The eighteen year old lifted herself off the bed and donned a pair of sandals. She walked over towards her bedroom door and stretched out a tired limb to open it. The raven haired girl then slowly made her way down the stairs wondering about this person Simon wanted her to meet.

* * *

><p>Bonnibel sat in her room buried in a chemistry book with a now cold cup of coffee sitting on her desk. She'd been sitting there for hours, not noticing the time go by as she was completely immersed in her studies. Ever since her crystallisation of soluble liquids experiment failed earlier that day, she'd been reading her science textbooks non-stop in an effort to figure out where she had gone wrong.<p>

The hours of reading were beginning to take their toll. Her eyelids drooped slightly and her concentration had plummeted. Heavy bags began to form under her eyes as she fought back the urge to yawn. Being tired was no excuse to stop studying. As a scientist (or an aspiring scientist) it was her responsibility to continue working until she'd found the solution to her problem. And all responsibilities, no matter how big or small, always demanded a little sacrifice.

Of course Bonnibel was still only human, so when Peppermint found her fast asleep with her head flat on the table with her arms hanging by her sides with her drool covering an entire page devoted to the Periodic Table, he naturally only saw fit that she took some time off her studies. A request, that she indignantly and forcefully denied.

"No Peppermint! I'm not taking a break! Not when I'm so close…"

The older man stood there with his arms crossed wearing a scowl.

"That's what you said thirty minutes ago. Look Bubblegum, I'm glad that you've found something that you're passionate about, especially something as great as science, but you _have_ to learn when it's time to rest! What you're doing isn't healthy!"

"But I…"

"No buts! You're hearing me, but you're not listening to me. You need. To take. A break!"

Bonnibel didn't bother answering Peppermint. She didn't even bother to look directly at him. She just sat there defiantly with her arms and legs crossed whilst biting down one of her cheeks. Peppermint's face softened.

"Look, I honestly don't care what you do for the rest of the day, just as long as it's not work, ok?"

Bonnibel remained silent.

"Ok?" he asked more forcefully.

"Alright…" she answered in a low voice.

Bonnibel closed her textbook as Peppermint left the room. She planted one of her elbows on the table and rested her face against her hand. She sighed as she picked up the cold cup of coffee with her free arm and dropped it the bin.

Suddenly Bonnibel heard her phone ringing from the other side of her room. She got up from her chair and walked briskly over to the other side of the room. She picked up her pink phone and flipped it open. It was a call from Marceline. Bonnibel clicked the answer button.

"Hey Marcy, what's u-"

Bonnibel got cut off by Marceline. She sounded greatly upset.

"Hey Bonnie, is it ok if I hang around at you place?"

"What now? It's after nine! Wait… why are you crying? Did something happen?"

"Not now… I'll tell you later, but can I _please_ just stay at your house for a bit?" Marceline sniffled.

"Sure, sure. Just-"

The phone line went dead.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9 my people. Handle it.<strong>

**So, what could possible have happened to upset Marceline so much? Chapter 10 might hold the answer...**

**Anyway don't forget to review and all that. Three to four reviews pretty much guarantees a new chapter so... yeah. If you want to read more, let me know. (Also for my American reader's who may not know; autumn means Fall in Europe)**


	10. Chapter 10: Betty

Chapter 10

Bonnibel's mind raced. Her thoughts were running at a thousand miles per hour. She paced around in her room trying to understand what had just happened. In all the time that Bonnibel had known Marceline, she'd never heard her that upset before.

Bonnibel wasn't particularly good at expressing emotion let alone knowing how to respond to someone else's. She began to dread Marceline's arrival. If she was arriving at _all_. How was she supposed to behave around someone in that state? Was she expected to talk and try to console her friend or to remain quiet and listen to what she had to say? Bonnibel had far too many conflicting thoughts running around in her head to make any sense of the situation. Maybe she was just overthinking everything…

The front door opened. Bonnibel could hear voices coming from downstairs followed by heavy footsteps hurriedly climbing up the stairs. She heard a rattling noise. The pink girl's head spun around as she watched a teary-eyed Marceline open her bedroom door.

Bonnibel rushed over towards her and guided her to the bed where Marceline sat down and began wiping the tears from her face.

"Marceline, what happened…?"

"He doesn't love me anymore!" Marceline wailed.

"Wait, wha…? Who doesn't love you anymo-"

The dark haired girl burst into tears in front of her friend and buried her head in her shoulder. "Simon…" she whimpered.

* * *

><p><em>Marceline half-heartedly strolled into the dining room. She found Simon sitting at the table with another person. A woman. She wore a light green and blue striped shirt and a pair of simple jeans with a pair of brown ankle boots. She was almost as tall as Simon and wore thick glasses on her face which covered her piercing blue eyes. Her hair was long and red in colour and stopped just before her elbows. She appeared to be the intellectual type.<em>

"_Uh… Simon? Who's this…?"_

_The friendly woman smiled and gave the impression that she was about to speak and introduce herself, however Simon spoke up and answered Marceline's question before she could react._

"_Marcy, this is Betty."_

"_Uh, hi Betty" she said with a hand stretched out._

"_And you must be Marceline! So nice to meet you! Simon here has said quite a lot about you." She replied, taking Marceline's hand and shaking it. Her voice was gentle but had a faint hint of authority in it. Barely noticeable but still there._

"_Betty and I" Simon began, "Have been seeing each other for quite some time now."_

"_Seeing each other?"_

"_Betty and I" he stopped and reached across the table and held Betty's hand. Caressing it with his thumb. "Care about each other very deeply." He swallowed. "I… I…"_

_Betty looked over at Simon, noticing his distress. She placed her other palm on top of his and gave him a light squeeze of encouragement._

"_I've asked her to marry me."_

_Betty gave Marceline a nervous smile and showed Marceline her ring, removing all possible doubt. This time it was Marceline who spoke._

"_I… you… d-don't you think this is going a little bit t-too fast…?" she stuttered._

"_Marceline, Betty and I have been together for a couple of _years_ now. If anything we're moving rather slow."_

"_Years?"_

"_Now, now Marceline! There's no need to get all worked up-"_

"_Hang on a minute, it _this _why you haven't been home as much? So when you told me you were working late you were actually just lying to my face?!_

"_No, not all the time Marcy, I have been working la-"_

"_I can't believe you!" she raged._

"_Marcy, please…" Simon pleaded._

"_I can't believe you would neglect me like that, just so you can be with your little play-thing!"_

"_Hey now!" Simon roared "That's completely uncalled for! I will not sit here while you insult my fiancé like this! She's not a 'play-thing'! I love her very much!"_

"_What about me?!" Marceline interrupted. "If you'd rather spend your time with your little princess instead of me, then how can you say that you really care about me at all?!"_

_Simon looked distraught. His mouth dropped. "Marcy… don't say things like that…"_

"_Why not? It's all true isn't it? Oh my glob" she sobbed "I fucking hate you!" _

"_MARCY!"_

_It was too late. The crying girl had already run up the stairs and grabbed her jacket from her room. Simon was only about halfway up the stairs before Marceline rushed past him and out the front door._

* * *

><p>Bonnibel continued to listen as Marceline finished her story.<p>

"And when he marries her, how is going to have enough time for me? He'll be spending all of his free time with that little _princess_ of his." Marceline wept. "I feel like everyone I care about is just abandoning me. First my mom, then my dad" Marceline tried to hold back her emotions but the tears continued to spill from her eyes. "and now Simon!"

Bonnibel brushed her fingers through Marceline's hair, and patted her gentle on her back with the other hand. Marceline moved back a little, her eyes pointed vaguely in Bonnibel's direction.

"And you know what the worst part is?"

Bonnibel stared back into her friend's blood red eyes, now raw from all the crying.

"What?" she asked softly.

"I left my axe-bass at home" the raven haired girl said with a chuckle.

Bonnibel giggled in response to this and continued to hug Marceline for an unknowable amount of time. They eventually broke away from each other, Bonnibel getting up to retrieve something from her desk while Marceline wiped the remainder of her tears from her eyes.

"Oh my glob, I can't believe how much I've cried over this junk." She sniffed.

As Bonnibel was sifting through her belongings on her desk, she could faintly hear Peppermint's voice from downstairs. She deduced that he must be on the phone since she knew for a fact that there was nobody else in the house except for herself, Peppermint and Marceline.

She closed her eyes and slowly began to make out the words coming from downstairs.

"Yes, yes she's here with me. … She's in Bubblegum's room right now. … Look Simon I don't know _what_ you did to upset the poor girl so much but- … oh. … Oh glob… right I understand now … alright, well you and Betty take care now, ok? … Yes, I think Marceline might be staying the night so you needn't worry about anything. … ok, ok I get it … ok! … Goodbye Simon."

Bonnibel heard a click. Peppermint must have hung up. Bonnibel turned around to see Marceline still seated at the pink bed looking through her phone with a troubled look on her face.

"Hey Marcy, what are you looking at on your phone…?"

Marceline's brow furrowed, her shoulders becoming tense.

"It's none of your business!" she retorted.

Bonnibel stared, mouth open, completely shocked. Seeing this caused Marceline's expression to soften.

"I'm sorry" she whispered "it's just… it's private…"

Bonnibel raised an eyebrow, her hands on her hips.

"More private than what you've just told me? Yeah, I don't believe that for a second."

"_How did she know?"_ Marceline thought _"How did she always know?"_

Of course Marceline didn't have much more time to think because Bonnibel was now on top of her. Marceline struggled as the younger pink girl wrestled her on the bed.

"Show me your phone." She cried as they grappled. "Show me your phone!"

Marceline could've easily overpowered the younger girl, however the position that Bonnibel landed her in when she tackled her made it increasingly difficult to fight back. Instead she awkwardly tried to push the pink girl off of her, phone in hand. However her phone didn't remain in her hand for much longer as the pink haired girl snatched it from Marceline's pale grip.

Bonnibel got off the bed quickly and began staring intently at the phone's screen, pacing around the room as she did so whilst Marceline tried to get regain her bearings.

"Bonnie!" she pleaded "You can't just invade my privacy like that!"

Bonnibel didn't answer. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes glued to the screen, jaw hanging open, lips parted by just a few millimetres.

"Who sent these to you Marceline…?"

"Nobody! Now give me back my phone!"

Bonnibel looked at the phone again, replaying the text messages in her head as if it were a video on loop.

"_Red-eyed emo freak"_

"_Go fucking die"_

"_Loner"_

"_Wrist cutter"_

"_No one loves you"_

"_We know where you live"_

"_Freak"_

"_We're gonna get you"_

"_Kill yourself"_

"_Bitch"_

"_No one would miss you if you were dead"_

"_Everyone hates you"_

"_Emo"_

And the most recent one that sent chills down Bonnibel's spine.

"_Watcha doin at Bubblegum's house freak?"_

"Give me back my phone!"

Bonnibel looked up at her friend, who had scrambled across the bed and made her way up to the pink girl. Before another word could be said, Bonnibel tossed the phone over to Marceline, who barely caught it. Bonnibel wore a look of pure affliction on her face.

"H-How long has this been going on? How long have you been getting t-these _texts_?" she stuttered.

Marceline looked as if she was about to deny what Bonnibel saw on her phone or avoid her question entirely. But the raven haired girl knew that there was no longer any point in any of it.

"Three weeks…" Marceline whispered.

"_Oh my glob" _thought Bonnibel_ "No wonder she's been so distraught lately!"_

"Hang on" Bonnibel puzzled "the earliest text came from _today_. How could this have been going on for thre-?"

Bonnibel slowly put the pieces together in head.

"Marceline… are these from the people that attacked you in the park…?"

Marceline flapped her forearms up and down momentarily before bringing her hands up to her face and running them through her thick messy black hair as she turned away from her friend and began walking towards her pink bed, completely rattled.

"I don't know, I don't know I don't _know_!" she whined. "Maybe… I think so… I mean it would make the most sense and all-"

Marceline's hysteria was cut short by Bonnibel.

"Marcy" she asked gently, her pink locks falling in front of her face as she brushed them away with her hand. "_Who_ attacked you?"

The dark haired girl stared at the carpeted purple floor. Her glowing red eyes concealed by her hair.

"Marcy, please…" Bonnibel put a hand on top of the older girl's one as she sat down on the bed. "let me help..." She whispered softly.

Minutes passed. Marceline remained silent and unresponsive. Bonnibel did not move her hand away from Marceline, if anything she held her tighter. A sign of reassurance.

"Most of them" Marceline began "Were from my old school. People who used to pick on me all the time." Hot tears began streaming down Marceline's pale cheeks. "They would hit me and call me names… I-I- I never made any friends in that school." She brought a hand up to her face and wiped the salty tears from her face before she continued.

"I was so… alone Bonnie. I literally had no one in that place that I could turn to. Even the teachers wanted nothing to do with me. I cut classes, I skipped school. Anything I could do just to avoid them…" Marceline sniffed before letting out a small laugh. "You can imagine how that affected my grades. Earned a reputation as a trouble-maker cause' they kept getting me into fights."

Marceline scratched her nose. "But I guess it isn't over yet…"

Bonnibel gave Marceline's hand a gentle squeeze before she eventually stood up.

"I'm gonna go see if there's a spare room for you to sleep in tonight. It's after midnight and you're clearly not ready to go back home yet." She said as she patted the other girl's hand.

Marceline head lifted revealing her blood-red eyes. The contrast between her pale skin and the deep red, only made them stand out even more.

"Um Bonnie… I was actually hoping…"

Bonnibel turned back and looked inquisitively at her friend. "Hmm?"

"I just… I can't… I mean I…I just really don't want to be… alone tonight…" she said shyly, her gaze slowly inched back down towards the floor and her bangs eventually swallowed up her eyes.

"Marceline" Bonnibel placed a warm hand on Marceline's shoulder. "Of course you can stay in my room with me tonight. That's what friends are for."

Marceline just smiled weakly in response.

Later that night as the two girls huddled up together under the blankets, Marceline curled up into a tight ball whilst Bonnibel held her. As Marceline eventually dozed off and fell asleep, Bonnibel remained awake, holding Marceline like a protective guardian as she ran her fingers through the older girl's dark mane.

As time went by, a strange feeling began to overcome Bonnibel. Something that she could not properly explain. Holding Marceline like this, being this close together, it just felt so… _right._ Bonnibel couldn't understand what it was about the dark haired girl that made her feel a warm buzz down her spine and rush of air that filled her lungs, but she liked it. She didn't have much more time to dwell upon it for much longer as sleep finally overcame her and pulled her into a world of darkness and warmth.

* * *

><p>Peppermint opened the front door in order to appease the rampant knocking on the wooden door.<p>

"Ah, Simon, I have to say I wasn't expecting to see you this evening." The red and grey haired man looked down on his wrist to examine his watch. "Well, it's night now…"

Simon had a hand against the wall, his stance groggy and his face wrought with worry.

"Where is she…?"

"She's upstairs, with Bubblegum. Asleep I presume."

The brown haired man let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Good… I just had to make sure she was alright…"

"Simon" The shorter man began "You literally just called to check in merely a half hour ago."

"Well, I also came to drop by this." He held out a red instrument. From what Peppermint could tell it appeared to be a guitar bass in the shape of a double bladed war axe.

"Could you just please give this to Marceline?" his dark blue eyes dropped down to the red bass. "Hopefully… it'll be enough to let her know that I still care about her…"

Peppermint placed a hand on the taller man's shoulder, his other taking the instrument. "She'll know" he assured him.

"I have to say though, I'm so glad those two are such good friends."

"You're telling me. Those two are just great for each other."

"Bubblegum keeps Marceline in line and in school." Simon nodded.

"And Marceline helps my Bubblegum relax and let loose every once in a while." Peppermint agreed.

"Polar opposites" Simon laughed. "A match made in heaven."

"You know…" the shorter man began as propped the axe-bass against the wall. "You're lucky that my guards recognised you. Imagine. A fully grown man coming up to _my_ doorstep in the middle of the night wielding a weapon?" He let out a chuckle. "I'm honestly surprised they didn't shoot on sight!"

Simon raised an eyebrow.

"You have guards now?"

"Of course! How could you not remember? With the type of business I'm in, it only makes sense to have a little security. Even if only as a precaution."

"Glob Peppermint, what kind of business do you conduct when none of us are around?" the brown haired man laughed.

"I assure you Simon" the shorter man said, wagging a finger with a cheeky smirk on his face. "I'm a very legitimate businessman."

Simon folded his arms, raised an eyebrow once again and grinned. "I don't recall implying otherwise."

"Goodnight Simon." He said, bowing his head slightly.

"Goodnight Peppermint."

As Simon walked away he heard Peppermint call after him. "And give Betty my regards!"

Simon simply replied by waving without turning around as he walked back to his car, opening the door and driving off into the night back to his home.

Peppermint looked down at the red instrument in his hallway, picking it up and carrying it off into one of his home's many rooms.

* * *

><p><strong>The not so long awaited chapter 10 has finally arrived.<strong>

**Don't forget to leave your reviews and all that. The 3-4 review rule is going to be applied to pretty much all future chapters now so... hit me with those opinions. Tell me what I did right, tell me what I did wrong, how you think the story is going to play out in the future, etc. I'm constantly trying to find ways to improve my writing so your feedback really does help!**


	11. Chapter 11: Next

Chapter 11

Bonnibel woke up feeling warm, the soft blankets shielding her from the outside world. She turned her head over to the opposite side so that she was facing the other end of the pink bed and focused her tired eyes on a thick black mane of hair in front of her. She slowly tried to sit up in bed as quietly as possible so as to not wake up her still sleeping friend however, there was a problem. Bonnibel was stuck. She pulled back the covers ever so slightly in order to inspect whatever it was that was restraining her.

Her arm was trapped underneath Marceline. The older girl continued to sleep soundly as she lay upon her pink friend's arm. Bonnibel tried to tug it slightly in an attempt to liberate the limb, but stopped out of fear of waking Marceline. And so she lay there, for many hours.

It wasn't until near noon before Marceline was finally aroused from her slumber. The older girl stretched and yawned, turning over in the bed so that she was flat on her back. Due to the fact that she was still tired, Marceline was completely oblivious to Bonnibel's presence in the bed, let alone the arm resting beneath her. As the dark haired girl rolled onto her side, she ended up rolling onto the rest of Bonnibel's arm and was stopped suddenly by Bonnibel's chest.

Marceline's eyes widened when she heard her friend let out a small yelp as she crushed the rest of her arm under her body. She had opened her eyes only to find that she was nose to nose with the other girl. Both girls could feel their cheeks burning as they turned into a deep shade of red that rivalled even the colour of Marceline's eyes. They were like that for barely half a second before Marceline shot up in the bed, her long black hair now wilder than usual flying in front of her face, blocking her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry!" she cried as she swept the hair away from her face. "Is your arm ok?" she asked worriedly. "I know how heavy I can be sometimes…" Marceline added awkwardly.

The pink girl flexed her fingers. Her palm and wrist were numb and she was starting to feel the beginnings of pins and needles in her arm but apart from that she was fine. Bonnibel smiled as she shifted her view from her arm to Marceline.

"It's ok Marcy, my arm's fine" she giggled.

The older girl looked at her sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

"So um… what the story with breakfast around here?" she asked grinning nervously as her stomach grumbled.

"Wow, aren't you greedy?" Bonnibel giggled "C'mon" she said as she took Marceline's hand. "I'll show you where the kitchen is.

* * *

><p>After breakfast Bonnibel went upstairs to get dressed while Marceline explored the house wearing nothing but the borrowed pink pyjamas. Every now and again as she walked down the hallways, Marceline dragged her fingers down through her messy morning-hair in a seemingly futile attempt to straighten it. At some point, Marceline eventually came across what appeared to be the music room. The tall dark haired girl stared with awe as she scanned the room and took in her surroundings.<p>

The white room was filled with instrumental and musical objects. To her left Marceline saw what looked like a small stage with a couple of seats lain out for an equally small audience. As she looked around to the right side of the room, Marceline saw even more. She saw a black piano in the far corner of the room right next to a grand golden harp. As Marceline approached it, she reached out a hand to touch the golden instrument. She hesitated, pulling her hand back to her chest for a couple of seconds before slowly reaching out once again and gently ran her fingers in a straight line through the harp's strings.

As she looked around Marceline saw a row of guitars, violins, piccolos, basses, violas and even a stand for a conductor to read sheet-music from. As Marceline passed a keyboard she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Lying there, propped up proudly against the wall, was Marceline's blood red axe-bass.

"_How the hell did you get here?"_ she wondered.

She warily approached the instrument, not entirely convinced that it was her own. Marceline picked up the red bass and began inspecting it. Then as she turned it around, Marceline spotted a little "M" engraved in the wood. Marceline's heart slowed. It was hers. But how…? She'd left it at home. There was only one possible way that this could've…

"_Simon..."_ she thought as she held the bass guitar close to her chest.

Carrying her bass in her hand, Marceline walked over towards one of the chairs and sat down. She let her fingers strum against the cords. A familiar sensation… it made her feel at peace. However as she continued strumming the soft melody she felt something building up in her chest, like a knot. It was like a bulge that left no mark and was starting to beg for some kind of release. Marceline didn't even realize that she had begun singing.

"_Simon, how could you lie to me?_

_I thought you were my friend…_

_We used to be Simon and Marcy,_

_But now it feels like the end…_

Her voice steadily grew louder as she continued.

_Do you not care about me?_

_How could you lie, to me?_

_Can you, just not see,_

_That, it… hurts?_

_Why do have to do this?_

_Why do you have, to marry her?_

_Why do you have to choose between us?_

_Or do, I just not matter?_

_I don't understand..._

_But I'm sure, you do._

_I don't know why you smile, when you hold her hand,_

_Or why you kiss her too._

_I really want to hate her…_

_I really want to hurt her later,_

_I really want her to make me angry…_

The dark haired girl's voice dropped to nearly a whisper.

_But I can't do, any of those things…_

_Can't do anything but sing…_

_When I see how, she makes you… so happy…"_

Marceline wiped a tear from her eye with her pink pyjama sleeve. She felt a soft hand resting on her shoulder. She looked up to see Bonnibel looking back at her with an equally emotional expression on her face.

"The shower's free now, if you want to use it…" she whispered quietly.

Marceline cracked a half smile for a split second before looking back at Bonnibel.

"Thanks Bonnie." She replied sullenly as she walked out of the music room, leaving Bonnibel alone with her axe-bass.

* * *

><p>Marceline continued to play her bass however she didn't sing again for the rest of the day. As she continued to play a calming tune, she heard Bonnibel's doorbell ringing. She didn't notice that she started playing quieter as two familiar voices began talking to each other.<p>

"So Bubblegum, you ready to do this?"

"Sure" she heard Bonnibel reply "Only if _you're_ ready to lose again."

Marceline smirked when she heard this.

"Oh really? Care for me to remind you the score? What was it again…?" The voice began sarcastically "I believe it was 27 to 24. In _my_ favour."

Bonnibel and her guest walked down the hallway and would soon pass the music room. Marceline looked towards the open door. A few seconds later she saw Bonnibel who was soon followed by Lich. He was wearing a black collar shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. His piercing green eyes looked around with such focus that it was impossible to believe that he was relaxed. Marceline raised her eyebrows in astonishment. Lich looked into the music room and saw Marceline seated with her axe-bass on her lap.

"Hey Marceline" he smirked. "Normally I would say I'm surprised to see you here but… then I would be lying."

"Nice to see you too Lich" she answered casually.

Marceline got up from her chair and left her axe-bass leaning against her seat. She walked towards the pale boy and the pink girl with curiosity.

"Oh, Marcy! You remember Lich right?" she said with a sly smirk on her face.

"Of course! How could I forget?" she replied. As she did so, Marceline winked flirtingly at Lich. His face remained unresponsive. His expression set in stone.

"_Damn"_ she thought to herself. _"If I didn't know he was asexual, I would've sworn he was gay"_

"So if you don't mind me asking" began Marceline "What exactly are you doing here today Lich? I didn't know that you and Bonnie were friends."

This got a reaction out of both teenagers.

"Oh no no no." Lich began awkwardly.

"We're not _friends_ exactly…" Bonnibel added in. "We're more like… acquaintances."

"Yeah, Bubblegum and I just meet up here every Sunday for our monthly chess match."

Marceline crossed her arms.

"You play chess?"

"Oh yes." He replied. "We're practically rivals at the chess club. However once a month on a Sunday we meet up for a friendly game and a chat."

"But you two talk at school and you clearly get along really well." Marceline puzzled "Are you _sure_ you're not friends? Because you seem to be very chummy around each other."

It was at this point were Bubblegum finally re-joined the conversation.

"Well! We, uh… better get started then! I have homework to do and these matches tend to go on for hours…"

"I already finished my homework…" Lich smirked.

Bonnibel just rolled her eyes. "Whatever Lich. Unlike you, I was busy doing you know, _social _activities."

Lich looked at Bonnibel with a completely absent minded expression. "I'm not apologising."

The two teenagers then walked off in the direction of one of the libraries in Bonnibel's house. Marceline pondered the thought of being a spectator to their little game but decided to return to her bass. She made her way back to the music room and picked up her instrument as she sat down in her chair. Once she was comfortable she let her fingers drop on the cords as she became lost in the music.

* * *

><p>"It's your turn." Lich said in calm collected voice. His green eyes flickered in the light of the fireplace.<p>

Bonnibel stared at the chess board. The light from the fire cast wobbly shadows on the chess pieces across the board. The focus in her gaze was so apparent, that one would've _felt it_ if they'd swept their hand through her field of vision. She scanned the board with her pale blue eyes, her long pink hair falling down in front of her shoulders. She had her two fore fingers rubbing against her temples as she analysed every single one of Lich's black pieces.

Lich had taken both of her rooks and one of her bishops. And while he had only his queen and one of his knights remaining, he had still managed to position his pieces in a way that made it impossible to defend her king without sacrificing one of her own pieces.

"So what's new?" she asked.

"Nothing much" the older boy replied, scratching his chin. "Jake's growing a moustache though."

The very thought of Jake Mertens with a moustache made Bonnibel laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah" he said matter of factly. "Not only that, but he's trying to grow a horseshoe moustache."

Bonnibel leaned forward and grinned. "Noooo… _really_?"

"I guess he just wants to 'look the part' in his little biker gang."

"Hmm… I forgot about that." She replied as she moved one of her pawns in the path of Lich's queen. "The Mad Dogs."

His response was almost instant, picking up his knight and taking out the pawn whilst still shielding his queen from Bonnibel's only remaining bishop.

"And how's his little brother Finn doing?"

Lich let out a small snicker. "Why are you asking _me_ all the questions about everyone? I thought _you_ were the 'social one'."

Bonnibel rolled her eyes. "Shut up…" she retorted.

"Well, he finally became captain of the school fencing team."

"Oh that's great! He's been working so hard to get that!"

"And he has a girlfriend now."

"Oooooh, a lady friend?" she cooed. "Do tell."

"Well" Lich began as he leaned back in his seat as Bonnibel took out Lich's knight with her bishop. "I actually don't know who she is exactly. Her name that is. But I know that it's the red-haired girl in our class."

"Flaria?"

"If that's her name, then yes."

"Oh…" Bonnibel whispered as she sank into her seat. "She has a fiery temper that one. I hope Finn can handle her…"

"He knows what he's doing" replied Lich as he took out Bonnibel's bishop, once again exposing her king. "Much like me." he added with a smirk. "Check"

Bonnibel racked her brain. She had pieces all over the board however Lich had her in a tight spot. Using only pawns and a single queen he had her king pinned down. She really couldn't see how she could possibly win this game. Lich had anticipated her every move in the entire game thus far and he was somehow still able to remain unpredictable. Every time she predicted a move, he predicted her prediction and countered her with ease.

As she struggled with a plan for attack she heard the door of the library open. The two teens turned their heads and saw Marceline walking towards them.

"So" she began as she pulled up a chair and sat down at the small mahogany table. "Who's winning?"

Lich raised his hand in response but didn't look up from the board. Marceline eyed the Bonnibel and board curiously as she leaned back in her seat with one arm hanging loosely. Her red eyes glowed in the firelight as she brushed her black hair away from them. She then leant forward picking up Bonnibel's queen and placed it in front of Lich's king, cornering it.

"Checkmate."

Bonnibel and Lich both stared at Marceline in awe. Dumbfound.

"Wha..? How did…? You… what?!" Bonnibel stuttered.

"His king was wide open. You were so focused on protecting your own king that you didn't even notice."

"But…"

"It's ok Bonnie, the answer was so just simple that you were too smart to see it."

Bonnibel's face lit up at this, appreciating Marceline's attempt to make her feel better. The pink girl smiled at her friend as she brushed her pink hair behind her ear.

Lich just folded his arms in a huff. "Well, I suppose _that_ would explain how _you_ beat me…"

He slowly got up from his chair, stretching out his arms. He let out a small grunt as he let his arms drop back down.

"Well, I'm gonna take off now. Good game Bubblegum." His eyes became transfixed on the dark haired girl. "Marceline." He nodded.

The two girls watched him leave as the firelight gradually started to dim.

* * *

><p><strong>*Some weeks later*<strong>

Marceline was preparing herself to go to the concert. She'd already packed a rucksack full of spare clothes and food. Marceline was dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and wore a casual open red and black plaid shirt with a grey tank shirt underneath. Her wild black hair fell over her shoulders as she bent down to adjust her black and brown hiking boots.

As soon as she'd finally gotten the last boot on her foot, Marceline heard the doorbell ring. She hurried down the stairs and eagerly opened the front door. There standing before her, was Bonnibel. Her long pink hair had been tied into a lazy ponytail and somehow managed to look both messy and tidy at the same time. She wore a light pink blouse and a pair of ripped denim short-shorts. Like Marceline, she too was wearing a pair of hiking boots for the concert in anticipation of the muddy field. Marceline looked at her friend with her eyes wide and her arms folded.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

The pink girl stared at her friend, confused.

"W-What do you mean…? I'm dressed for the concert!"

"I mean _this_" the dark haired girl said as she tugged at the sleeve of Bonnibel's blouse. "This isn't the sort of thing you wear to a friggin concert Bonnie."

"It's not…?" the younger girl asked awkwardly with a raging blush on her cheeks.

"Come on" said Marceline as she ushered the pink girl into her house.

Marceline dragged Bonnibel through the house by her wrist, until they were in her room and plonked her down on the bed.

"You just sit there, while I find something for you to wear." The older girl mumbled as she got down on her knees and began scavenging her wardrobe and drawers for clothes. Eventually after tossing multiple garments across the room in her valiant search, Marceline dug out a black t-shirt. She held it up in the air triumphantly before passing it Bonnibel.

The pink girl held up the black rocker shirt with a look of grimace.

"Marcy… are you _sure _about this one?" she asked as she examined the shirt.

There was a picture of a screaming yellow snake had been impaled with two sharp wooden sticks cover the whole front of the shirt. However, much to Bonnibel's amusement, the two sticks had two roasted marshmallows planted on top of them. Both had an expression of agony on their faces. As if the marshmallows were still being cooked. Bonnibel squeezed out a peculiar smile.

"C'mon Bonnie!" the older girl begged "Try it on!"

The pink girl let out a huff of defeat as she stood up and began unbuttoning her blouse. Marceline felt a hot blush wash over her face. She awkwardly turned away from her friend as she changed, but was unable to stop herself from sneaking in a quick glance or two. Marceline was shocked at herself. How could she just shamelessly stare at her friend like that while she was changing? What the hell was wrong with her? Well mind you… there was a little shame in her action… In fact, what Marceline just did was _far_ from shameless.

Marceline suddenly snapped out of her own mental interrogation as Bonnibel pulled the shirt down over her head.

"You know…" she began as she examined the pink girl "That shirt actually looks pretty good on you." She smirked as she watched the younger girl's face slowly turn a warm shade of red. "Here look" she said as she took Bonnibel by the shoulders and guided her to the mirror.

The pink girl's head tilted a bit upon viewing her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't help but feel giddy as she admired herself. The contrast between the dark black t-shirt and her bright pink hair complimented each other perfectly. In addition to her ripped shorts, she looked like quite the rocker-chick. The complete transformation in her appearance based on a single piece of clothing bewildered her.

"C'mon" the older girl said as she gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Simon's waiting for us in the car."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, the mid-term break has arrived for those of Pendleton High and now Marceline and Bonnibel finally get to go to the concert with Lich and Ash! I wonder what those four will get up to? I guess we'll find out in Chapter 12: Concert.<strong>

**However in the real world, I'm still trapped in school for another couple of weeks before my Halloween holidays arrive. But nevertheless the updates SHOULD still be coming in at the somewhat regular pace I've kept it at.**

**Anyway don't forget to leave your reviews. (At least 3-4 as always) And tell me what you think. Any and all constructive criticism is welcome!**

**PS: I have been training myself in the art of drawing manga/anime for the past two weeks and I'm already excellent at it, so I might be able to finally give the story a better cover image at some point in the future. (The things I do for you guys...)**


	12. Chapter 12: Concert

Chapter 12

By the time the car had arrived at the concert field, it was late afternoon. The sky was burned orange and the trees on the outskirts of the field left long black shadows streaking across the grassy meadow. The field was littered with tents and was bustling with thousands of people. In the centre of it all, was a grand stage floating proudly in the sea of tents.

The car came to a slow stop on the gravel road. Simon parked along the side of the U-bend and stretched his arms in the car seat. He shuffled around in the car until he was facing the two girls in the back seats. His blue eyes peered over his thick glasses as he ran his fingers through is brown hair and scratched the back of his head. He gave them a mad looking grin.

"Go on you two."

The two girls climbed excitedly out of the red car, grabbing their bags on the way out.

"Hey!" the brown haired man called. The two teenagers looked back at Simon with eyebrows raised. "You almost forgot this!" the man exclaimed as he held out the bag containing their tent in an outstretched arm through the car window.

Marceline approached him with a giddy smile on her face as she went to retrieve the green bag.

"Thanks Simon" she said as she planted a kiss on her guardian's cheek.

"Now don't do anything stupid, ok? There's a fine line between having fun and being reckless."

"Geez Simon" Marceline pouted "Why the hell do you have to worry so much? I've got Bonnie with me! I'll be perfectly fine!"

Simon expression softened a bit. "I know, but… I'm only saying it because I care."

The two girls waved the brown haired man goodbye as he drove away and then set off to into the sea of tents in search for Lich and Ash.

* * *

><p>"So you made it." The green eyed boy grunted as he pulled the rope attached to his tent, fastening it to the ground. He fixed his black leather jacket as he stood up and cracked his knuckles. "We left a spot for you over there" he said as he pointed towards a small clearing amongst the thousands of tents in the field. "Ash is holding the fort down there for the moment, so you'd better hurry before somebody kicks his ass and claims the spot for themselves" he added with a smirk.<p>

The two girls dually nodded at him and made their way down to the clearing where they found Ash sitting. Ash had changed since Marceline saw him last. He was taller, slightly more muscular in the arms and was now sporting a short Mohawk with a thin ponytail at the back of his head. He looked like a punk horse.

"Sup Marceline" the white haired boy grinned "Hey Bubblegum."

"Thanks for holding our spot Ash." Marceline said as she knelt down and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Did anybody give you much trouble…?"

"Nah" the boy grinned. "Most folk here are pretty respectful, ya know? If you're at a spot, you've claimed the spot. Concert rules." He smirked. "Anyway, I'm gonna head back up to Lich, if you need any help setting up your tent, just give me a shout, alright?"

The grey skinned boy clamber back onto his feet and began jogging over towards Lich's tent.

"_He seems nice" _Marceline thought_ "I give him too much of a hard time in English class. Maybe I should try being nice back from now on…"_

"I know what you're thinking Marcy." Bonnibel said loudly, interrupting Marceline's thoughts. "He seems nice, but Ash can be a bit of a chump sometimes."

Marceline's red eyes shone in the orange sun. "Whatever Bonnie" she smirked. "I bet you're just saying that because you want little Ashy all to yourself!" she teased.

"Ewww!" Bonnibel grimaced. "I wouldn't date Ash if he were the last person on the planet!"

"Whatever you say, pink girl." She cooed as he tossed the green bag over to Bonnibel and began helping her set up their tent.

* * *

><p>"Hey man" Ash called as he jogged up to Lich.<p>

"Took you long enough to get here. So what's going on?"

"Not much. I think I left a pretty good impression on Marceline though." He said. "Although, why wouldn't she like me? After all, chicks dig me." He snickered whilst flexing his arms.

"I can see then, that you didn't mention that you got moved from the original spot by those guys over there in the red tent?" Lich mentioned slyly.

"Hey now." The white haired boy said as he bent down and grabbed a small pouch from his bag. "What they don't know won't hurt me."

* * *

><p>The night was alive with people surrounding the stage. The air was cold and the wind cut through everyone like icy knives, but the combined body heat from the crowd made it tolerable. The night was completely dark, save for the small lights emitted by people's phones and lighters. There was of course, the expected noise you would get from the chatter and shouting of over a thousand people, however when the stage lit up and the band stepped onto the stage and into their positions, the crowd went wild.<p>

Marceline surveyed her surroundings as the band addressed the crowd. Drinking the praise from their fans. Bonnibel was clinging to Marceline's arm for safety amongst the huge crowd. The pink girl didn't want to risk getting separated in such a large gathering of people and especially not in the dark. Marceline looked over to see Ash sitting on top of one of the broken street lights in the middle of the field. He had his hands cupped in front of his mouth as he shouted and cheered into the night.

Lich was a different story altogether. His fists were clenched and his dark green eyes glowed in the night and for once he had an actual smile on his face. The light emanating from the phones, lighters and torches flickered in Lich's eyes. His lips were pulled back into a crazy grin and his body shivered with a masked excitement. His eyes were the only thing that could ever express whatever that boy was feeling. And right there and then, they burned with a madness as he looked up to the stage. Almost as if he was anticipating… chaos.

Marceline herself was entranced. Her black hair melted away into the night and her crimson eyes were (for the most part) focusing entirely on the stage. The crowd roared as the band announced the first song of the night.

"ALRIGHT EVERYBODY!" the singer roared. "WE'RE GONNA OPEN UP WITH A FAN FAVOURITE! LADIES AND PSYCHOS, GET READY FOR _'CAGED'_!"

The guitarist began strumming. His fingers flying skilfully on the chords. The drummer started playing wildly. The speed at which he was moving was almost impossible to comprehend. The bassist and the singer melded together beautifully and never deviated from the madness of the rest of the music. There was only one way to describe them. Controlled chaos.

"_Don't you understand… what you put me through?_

_Don't you get it bitch? I'm not, done with you!_

_You can't run away, from the things, you did!_

_You can't just get away, those sins you have, you can't, get rid!_

_Don't give me, an excuse,_

_I've got nothin left to lose!_

_All I see… is red…"_

The singer went silent as drummer played louder.

_WHICH MEANS YOUR DEAD!_

The band broke into the chorus as the guitarist took over most of the song as his fingers danced madly on the guitars stings. The singer started again, at first quiet, but then slowly building up and getting louder and louder.

"_You did this, to me!_

_Now I'm gonna make you feel,_

_What's it's like to have your heart, trapped be-hind steel!_

_You don't know what it's like, to have uncontroll-able rage…_

_You don't know what it's like, to force the beast back in its cage…"_

The singer looked up at the crowd. His smile, sadistic. His eyes, insane.

"_But neither do I!"_

The band went back into its chorus and the guitarist once again took over before the singer continued. His voice now roaring, his lungs screaming.

_Oh, how cruel I seem!_

_From laughing, at you scream!_

_The pain it rises, dark-ness looms,_

_Your blood it splashes in the, torture room!_

_If you scream for help now, it'll, seal your doom!_

_Well guess what bitch, life's not fair…_

_So why, should I care?_

_Another chapter in life's page,_

_As I rip the demon out from its cage!_

The band ended with the chorus once again before finishing it up with a solo from the guitarist. The field that night was alive with an animalistic surge of raw energy from the crowd. Marceline smiled to herself as the band announced their next song as she brought the cold beer bottle to her lips.

* * *

><p>"Cah man Bonnie… am not even dat drunk" Marceline grumbled as Bonnibel carried her to their tent.<p>

"Marceline, I've literally _never_ seen _anybody_ drink _that much_ in one night!" the pink girl fumed, even though it was pitch black outside you could still see the red on her face. Bonnibel herself was feeling a little tipsy and didn't feel like spending the night passed out and vulnerable in the middle of a field.

"Ah… I only had like… two…" Marceline paused "Boxes" she giggled as she held up two fingers.

Bonnibel just rolled her eyes as they approached their tent. Even though the concert was still going on, it was late and some people were slowly starting to make their way back to their tents. Others just passed out in the wet grass. The cold night air cut through her like blades of ice as the wind whipped past her face, causing her long pink hair to flutter in the night. Bonnibel shivered, unintentionally holding Marceline a little tighter.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes…"

Marceline's head lifted as she gave Bonnibel a toothy grin, her blood red eyes shining in the moonlight.

"Well you need to learn to cut loose, _Bonnibel_!"

"What do you mean by tha-!" Bonnibel didn't get to finish her sentence as Marceline pushed her up against a tree.

"You _really_ need to learn to have some fun every once in a while." She breathed into the pink haired girl's ear.

"Marceline…? What are you doing?!" Bonnibel trembled. She could smell the alcohol in Marceline's breath. The scent, pungent.

"Having some fun." she whispered seductively.

Bonnibel felt her eyes widen as Marceline's lips pressed up against her own. She struggled as Marceline held her up against the tree by the wrists. The pink girl writhed and squirmed as the older girl held her down. Eventually Bonnibel managed to free on of her wrists from Marceline's grip and pushed her off.

"Wha-What the hell d-did you think you were doing?!" Bonnibel cried, her voice shaking.

"Oh, don't pretend you didn't like it" the drunk girl slurred.

"I…"

"C'mon Bonnie" the drunk girl smirked. "It's just a bit fun" she said as she stumbled back towards Bonnibel again.

Even though the pink girl had more time to react, the same thing happened again. This was wrong she thought. This was so wrong on so many different levels and yet… why did it feel so…?

Marceline pushed her up against the tree, her warm lips pressed more softly against Bonnibel's this time. Once again Bonnibel tried resisting, but the second she felt Marceline's hand resting against her waist, pulling her in closer, she just gave in.

"Mff… Marcy" she giggled "This is _sooo_ wrong…" she moaned as the older girl began kissing her neck.

"I know… she whispered. "Kind of a turn on isn't it?" she grinned mischievously.

The two girls continued kissing as they unsteadily made their way towards their tent and fell in through the entrance. They laughed as they landed on the puffy sleeping bags lain down on the floor of the tent. Bonnibel zipped up the door of the tent, but when she turned back around Marceline was already on top of her. The younger girl wrapped her arms around Marceline's neck as she lay on top of her.

As they pressed their lips together once more, Bonnibel felt Marceline biting down playfully on her lower lip. Bonnibel parted her lips slightly, allowing Marceline entrance. Their tongues wrestled for dominance as the pink girl wrapped her legs around Marceline's waist and held her tight until there was no space left between them.

Bonnibel could feel Marceline's hand lowering down to her hip. Her fingers tugged a little on her denim shorts. The pink girl trembled with anticipation as the older girl's fingers slowly approached the centre of her shorts. She felt the pop of a button opening and chewed on her lower lip. Before Marceline could continue any further, the pink girl sat up, pulling Marceline open red shirt off her shoulders and then lifting her grey tank shirt over her head, leaving Marceline in only her jeans and her black bra.

The two girls lightly pressed their foreheads together, their noses softly nudging off each other every now and again. Bonnibel had her palms resting on Marceline's shoulders as the older girl held her by the hips, her thumbs resting on the seam of Bonnibel's denim shorts. Before she knew what was happening, Marceline kissed her hard and suddenly grabbed the centre of Bonnibel's shorts and yanked them down.

Bonnibel's mouth opened in an "o" shape as she broke away from the kiss. Her eyes were closed as Marceline rubbed against her and planted soft kisses on her neck.

As the night went on, through the hustle and bustle of the crowds in the night and the music from the band, nobody heard the moans and the giggles of the two girls in the tent.

* * *

><p>Marceline woke up to a blinding headache.<p>

"Aargh!" the dark haired girl groaned. "My head is lumping killing me!"

"Aw… well that's too bad" Bonnibel smiled happily as she awoke from a wonderful sleep, wearing nothing but her pink underpants and the black rock shirt Marceline lent her. "But it's a small price to pay for an amazing night." She said as she gave Marceline a light peck on the cheek.

"Nnn.." the older girl moaned. "Well I'm glad _you_ remember it. Cause I can't remember shit!" she whined as she pressed her hands against the sides of her head.

The pink girl's blood froze. "What…?"

"Yeah…" Marceline grumbled. "I have complete blackouts in my memory… Fucking hang-over!" she screamed.

Marceline felt something odd on the lower half of her body. She lifted up her green sleeping bag to inspect the weird sensation. "Bonnie… where the fuck are my pants?"

"You mean, you don't… remember… _anything?"_ the younger girl's bottom lip quivered.

"Hey now, don't worry about me" said Marceline as she cracked a smile and patted the pink girl's shoulder. "At least you still had fun, right?"

"Yeah…" Bonnibel answered quietly "Last night was the best night of my life…"

* * *

><p><strong>Hahaha! You guys didn't think it would be THAT easy now did you? But the real question is... what happens now...? What's Bonnie gonna do? If anything at all? Will Marceline ever remember the concert or will that night be forever forgotten?<strong>

**Aaaanyways don't forget to leave your reviews (3-4) and tell me how badly I've damaged your soul with this chapter. (And if any of you want to get into the heavy metal mood for the concert then I would recommend listening to Avenged Sevenfold: Shepard of Fire or Bat Country. If you're into that sort of thing)**

**Constructive criticism is always welcome!**


	13. Chapter 13: Events

Chapter 13

Later that afternoon Simon waited for the two girls in his car. He tapped his fingers against the door through the open window and hummed a soft tune. Thousands of concert-goers passed him while he waited as the cool autumn breeze blew past him.

Eventually he spotted a dot of black and pink in the distance and waved his arm at them.

"Hi Simon!" Marceline greeted as she opened the car door and climbed in.

"So" the brown haired man began "Did you two have fun?"

"Uh… yeah" Marceline said very unconvincingly. Seeing that Simon saw right through her façade, she just awkwardly smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I actually… don't really remember much of it…"

The man rolled his eyes. "I thought as much." He murmured. "Here" he said as he tossed a small capsule at Marceline.

"What's this?"

"It's aspirin." He replied. Simon's eyebrows furrowed as he peered over his glasses. "For your _hangover_." He added disapprovingly.

Marceline's eyes shamefully dropped down to the little container as she peeled back the lid and popped a tablet into her mouth.

"I know you a lot better then you give me credit for Marceline. And by the way, you say; thank you."

"Thanks Simon…"

"So!" the brown haired man said as he turned over to Bonnibel. "How did you find the concert, Bubblegum?"

The pink girl had been quiet throughout the entire conversation and hadn't opened her mouth to speak since she'd arrived in the car. Her gaze seemed to be focused far out the window and she didn't appear to be paying attention to anything, let alone the fact that someone was talking to her.

"Hello…?"

"S-sorry… I'm just tired." The pink girl mumbled. "We had a late night…" she added quietly.

* * *

><p>The drive home didn't seem to take as long as it should've. As Simon stepped out of the car, he left the two girls as he walked towards the front door of the house. For the entire duration of the journey home, something had been bugging Marceline. After what was supposed to be a fun night with her friends, Marceline noticed that Bonnibel was behaving unusually… distant.<p>

"Hey, Bonnie…?" she asked as the pink girl pulled her bag out from the backseat of the car. Her voice, drenched with concern. "Is something bothering you…? You seem a little… off."

The pink girl didn't respond. She seemed completely unaware that Marceline was trying to talk to her as she swung her pink bag over her shoulder and walked out of the front garden and onto the street.

"Hey!" Marceline called with a hint of annoyance in her voice as she ran after her friend.

Upon reaching her, Marceline grabbed Bonnibel's shoulder and spun her around.

"What the hell's the matter with you?! You haven't said a word to me since this morning Bonnie!" she cried as she held onto the younger girl's arms. "Something's bothering you and you're gonna tell me what it is right now!"

"It's nothing." Bonnibel answered monotonously.

"What do you mean 'it's nothing'?! Don't lie to me Bonnie. Did… did something happen at the concert…?"

Marceline noticed Bonnibel flinch when she mentioned the concert.

"Look Bonnie, I don't remember much from what went on last night, so if something happened, you _need_ to tell me right no-"

"I told you it's NOTHING!" the pink girl screamed, breaking away from Marceline's grip as a single tear rolled down her face.

"Just leave me alone! I need… I need to be by myself."

"But you haven't told me what's wrong!" the dark haired girl protested.

"Please, Marcy… just leave it!" she shouted as she threw her arms up in the air and stormed off in the direction of her house.

Marceline stood there in the cold as she watched her friend walk away. Her brain couldn't even register what was unfolding right before her very eyes. She was in a state of utter confusion, not even sure how to feel. Her brain was too muddled for her to even cry at the sight of her friend leaving her angrily without explanation.

"W-What did I do…?" she whispered.

"Good question." A voice said from behind.

Marceline spun around to see Lich standing in the grey street with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed. He stepped towards her, his expression unchanging as if he were in deep thought.

"What are you doing here Lich?"

"I just swung by to see if you two got home alright." He answered coolly.

"Why is she upset?" demanded Marceline.

Lich's body didn't move. He only adjusted his head slightly so that he was able to look comfortably in the direction that Bonnibel stormed off in and at Marceline. "I feel like I should be asking _you_ that question."

Marceline snapped. "Oh my freakin glob! I am SICK of the cryptic bull-crap that you two keep going on about! Why do you and Bonnie always have to talk in fucking riddles?! Why can't you two ever just be straightforward about what you're thinking?!"

Lich stared at her, completely unfazed. "What bothers me the most" Lich began as he turned away from her. "Is that I don't know what's wrong myself. Bubblegum and I nearly always know what's going on in each other's lives. It's not that we're particularly close or anything like that, but rather that we can just read each other's body language, reactions and emotions like books. And for once… I have no idea what she's thinking." He scratched his chin before continuing with his sentence. "And that irks me."

Lich started to head off in his own direction. Marceline thought she could still hear him thinking out loud as he walked away.

"But if I were to guess…"

* * *

><p>Marceline was chatting in the hallways of the school with a few of her classmates. Upon seeing Finn again for the first time in two week's with his arm wrapped around another girl's waist, she couldn't help but smile.<p>

"So you've finally gotten yourself a girl, huh Finn?" she teased.

Finn began blushing madly as the red-haired girl beside him giggled at Marceline's comment and gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"See you in class Finn" she said affectionately as she hugged his arm before walking off with a group of her friends.

"So who's Finn's new girl?" Marceline asked Finn's older brother Jake, who now had a fully grown horseshoe moustache on his face.

"Her name's Flaria. You _do_ know she's in our class, right?" he asked sceptically.

"Meh… I don't pay attention much when I'm in class."

Marceline looked down at her watch. "Speaking of which… I have to go to music class now." She sighed. "C'mon Lady."

As Marceline and Lady walked of in the direction of their music class, Marceline noticed Jake following behind them. She didn't think too much of it at first but when they reached the music room she turned her red eyes at Jake, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I didn't know you did music class Jake." She said matter of factly with an eyebrow raised.

"I don't." Jake huffed. "But I _am_ still Lady's translator, so…"

"Gotcha." She replied raising a hand in understanding as she held the door open for the two blondes.

* * *

><p>The music lesson carried on as normal, however it was a little odd to have Jake slouched in the corner of the room. He looked very out of place with his moustache and messy blonde hair. To top it off he was wearing his leather biker jacket with his gang's symbol imprinted on the shoulder and his muddy black biker boots. He really gave off the bad-boy vibe as looked on into the class with a painfully bored expression on his face. How somebody so rough looking could've learned foreign language as complex as Korean much less be fluent in it, was unfathomable.<p>

At some point in the class the students all had to play a song with the instrument they'd brought in. Eventually it was Marceline's turn to play her piece with her axe-bass. While the red instrument itself definitely appeared to impress Jake, he didn't seem particularly interested in the song itself. He held a similar attitude towards the rest of the students as they played their pieces in front of the class.

However when it was Lady's turn, he sat up in his chair and casually translated every sentence she spoke to the class. Marceline watched as Lady sat up on the bench, bring her viola up to her chin and began playing.

The song itself was only _just_ above-average by the standards of the music class and wasn't really anything to write home about. However when Marceline looked over her shoulder towards the back of the class, she couldn't believe what she saw.

Jake Mertens, leader of the toughest biker gang in the whole town of Ooo, was completely mesmerised by a Korean girl playing her viola. Marceline watched with increasing interest as she saw Jake getting drawn in by the music. He looked as if he was listening to the most beautiful song he would ever hear in his whole life. Jake appeared to be as genuinely surprised at his own reaction as Marceline. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were glued to the tall blonde girl playing. Marceline smirked. He was hooked on this girl.

When the song had ended, the class gave the student the obligatory clap that was done at the end of every performance. As the school bell rang, the students shuffled around as they got up from their chairs and carried their bags out the green door. Marceline got up to leave, but then noticed Lady and Jake at the back of the class. Normally Jake didn't pay much attention to the foreign girl, only ever speaking to translate for other pupils, but now he was having a full-on conversation with her! The dark haired girl thought about approaching the two, but then decided to leave them uninterrupted as she walked out the music room and into her next class.

* * *

><p>Marceline sat under a tree in the park after school. The wet grass left damp marks on bottom of her jeans. She closed her eyes as a light breeze blew over her and listened to leaves rustling overhead in the trees. Marceline pulled her phone out from her pocket and flipped it open.<p>

"_Look Bonnie, I don't know why you've been avoiding me all day at school, but I have the right to at least know why. If you care about our friendship at all, then text me back"_

The raven haired girl sighed as she rested her head against the tree and hit send. Her red eyes wandered up towards the sky as the she watched the sun slowly descending from the sky like a fiery golden disc being slotted into a dark jukebox that was the horizon. She hissed as the sunlight shone in her eyes before becoming obscured by a grey cloud.

A light breeze caused her to shiver as hair fluttered before her. She rolled down the sleeves of her blue shirt and began rubbing her upper arms in an effort to get warm. A solid thirty minutes had passed before she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. A single eyebrow rose as she read the screen.

"_Turn around"_

Marceline, bemusedly turned around to her right, not sure what to expect. She looked up to see a pair of slender legs and a mane of pink hair. She shuffled slightly to her left as the pink girl sat down next to her.

"I didn't think you'd come."

"I almost didn't." Bonnibel replied without looking at Marceline.

There was an awkward silence between the two girls. It may have only lasted a second or two, but to them it felt like hours. Marceline couldn't handle the silence anymore.

"How did you know where I was?"

"Your phone gives the location of where your last text came from." She began, still facing away from the raven haired girl. "All phones have it. And since there's only one park in Ooo…"

Another silence.

"What's going on?" It was more of a statement rather than a question.

The pink girl brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. The wind caused her pink locks to fly into Marceline's face so she just tucked in some of her hair into her light pink scarf. Her purple cardigan was left open despite the fact that it was cold and for reasons Marceline couldn't even being to understand, she was wearing a dress, leaving her legs exposed to the elements.

"Bonnie…?"

The pink girl leant forward towards Marceline. She thought the pink girl was about to give her a hug, however her approach was suddenly halted. The hesitation in her pale blue eyes was apparent as she retreated back to her original position, this time looking back at Marceline.

"Bonnie, what's with all this…? Where the hell is all this awkwardness coming from? What's wrong?"

Bonnibel remained silent as she turned her head away from Marceline.

"Say something! Talk to me!" she shouted angrily, her red eyes searing with rage and her hair seemingly alive.

The younger girl stood up.

"This was a mistake…" she whispered to herself as she turned around to walk away.

As the pink girl was about to leave, she suddenly felt a hand clamp onto her wrist.

"Hey! You're not leaving until we sort this out!"

"Marcy, let go." Bonnibel demanded as she pulled on her wrist.

"Do you not care or something?! Do I mean absolutely _nothing_ to you?! Because if not, then you really better start explaining yourself _right now_!"

Bonnibel glared at her. Marceline may have had demonic red eyes, but the pure undiluted rage in Bonnibel's normally sweet innocent pale blue eyes, was enough to put the fear of glob in her. Then something completely unexpected happened. Bonnibel slapped her.

Marceline stumbled backwards clutching her red cheek. She slowly lifted her palm off her cheek and looked at her own hand and then to Bonnibel. The pink girl was shaking with an uncontrollable rage. Her fists trembled as her knuckles turned white. However, even though Marceline was the one who'd been hit, Bonnibel was the one who looked hurt.

"What the hell was _that_ for?!"

"You _know_ what that was for!" the pink girl screamed, oblivious to the tears running down her own cheeks.

"What? For grabbing your fucking wrist?!"

The anger exploded out of Bonnibel like a volcano of rage.

"NO! Not for grabbing my _wrist_!"

"What the hell's you problem?!" the dark haired girl spat growing increasingly frustrated and confused with the situation.

"_YOU'RE_ MY PROBLEM!"

The words stung. The sheer shock and power from those words caused to Marceline fall back and land in the wet grass on her rear. As soon as the words had left her mouth Bonnibel knew she'd gone too far. Regret sank in faster than iron in a pool. She hurried over to her friend and was about to reach out to her with an outstretched hand which was just slapped away.

"Don't touch me." The raven haired girl hissed.

"Marcy, I…"

"No." She said as she stood back up. There was a red handprint on the side of her face. It made Bonnibel cringe when she looked at it.

"I thought we could talk things out. Sort whatever was bugging you, hug it out and everything could go back to normal." She began. "I thought you were my friend. I thought _I_ was _your_ friend. But I'm not even that am I? I'm just your fucking _problem_!"

"Marcy, listen…" the younger girl tried.

"Ever since the concert, ever since we started back at school you've always been trying to avoid me! Bonnie, you don't even _look_ at me anymore! It's like I'm not even a person to you!"

The words hit her like knives. Neither girl was aware that they were both crying.

"You know what Bonnie? I'm done." She stated as she pushed past the younger girl.

As Bonnibel watched Marceline leave, she fell back against the tree and slowly slid down the damp bark as she broke down crying and buried her head in her knees.

* * *

><p>Simon and Betty weren't home when Marceline stormed in through the front door. She charged straight into her room, grabbed her axe-bass, lifted it over her head and smashed it against her chair, splitting the piece of furniture in two and burying the blade of her instrument in her bedroom floor. The red eyed girl smashed her forehead into her bedroom wall and fell back onto her bed. She picked up a pillow and pressed it onto her face where she let out a muffled scream into the soft material as hot tears began to drench her cheeks.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>One thing I feel is important to mention to a lot of you, is the events that happened in chapter 12. Now I'm going to have to point at out that the ending scenes of chapter 12 were not in the original plot of this story. I just noticed from some of the reviews that a few of you were a little... impatient. To put it bluntly chapter 12 was <em>fanservice<em>. That's why Marceline doesn't remember anything. Or at least, that's the primary reason she doesn't remember.**

**It took me a while, but whilst I was writing chapter 12 I found some way the events could be incorporated into future chapters of this story, so I guess it worked out for all of us...**

**Anyway we've reached a certain point in the story where the fun kind of ends. Tears will be shed. Feels will be felt. **

**Enjoy the heart-ache! (Also, sucks to be Bonnie right now XP)**

**Don't forget to leave your reviews (3-4) and tell me who you don't want me to kill off. (I'm joking XD) ( Or am I...? o_O )**


	14. Chapter 14: Plans

Chapter 14

Bonnibel lost her last rook to one of Lich's knights. Her pawns were gone, she'd only one bishop remaining and she still hadn't moved one of her knights from its starting position. Lich was missing a few pawns but he'd suffered no major losses in the game thus far. He looked up from the board and straight into Bonnibel's eyes. The dark emeralds on his face burned right through her soul.

"Something happened at the concert." He stated, cracking his pale knuckles and scratching the back of his head.

It'd been a while since his last haircut, and his usual skin-head appearance was gradually starting to fade as the weeks rolled by and greyish hair slowly sprouted from his scalp.

"Why do you say that?" the pink girl inquired as she moved one of her knights close to Lich's king.

"Because you're playing like ass." He said bluntly with an unapologetic look on his face as he eliminated the knight from the board with a single blow from one of his black bishops.

Bonnibel shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, her glare seemingly having no effect on the robotic boy sitting across from her.

"And how did you make that correlation with the concert? Seems a bit like a wild guess to me."

"It's not a guess. And your reaction pretty much confirms my hypothesis."

The young girl sighed deeply. The smell of dust, mothballs and old books crept into her nostrils. She poked at the fading fire with a cold iron poker sending sparks to fly amongst the orange embers and leaving a metallic odour on her palm. The library was supposed to be an area of the house that was meant to be considered; warm and cosy. However the longer she spent in this room with Lich, the colder and more uncomfortable she felt.

"Bubblegum, I've clearly won this game. I'm not exactly hanging around for my pride right now. Something has happened between you and Marceline. I want to know what."

The pink girl remained unresponsive.

"You know… Peppermint's going to be pretty mad at you, considering you've pushed away the closest thing his best friend has ever had to a daughter." He said, with slight bit of venom in his voice.

"Why do you care Lich?"

"I don't." he replied coolly. His composure was unwavering, his motives still unclear.

Bonnibel just stared at him as if he were a complete idiot.

"Fix things" he demanded "Before _I_ step in." he announced as he got up from his chair.

This declaration caught the young girl's attention.

"W-What?! What do you mean _'step in'_?! Why the hell are _you_ so concerned with my situation with Marceline?!"

"I have my interests." The pale boy said ominously as he left the room.

* * *

><p>Marceline was listening to music on her headphones when she felt a buzzing in her pocket. She pulled out her phone and removed her headphones, placing them on the bed next to her. She flipped open her phone. It was a phone call. From Lich. Without giving it much thought, she answered.<p>

"Hello?"

"Do you like music, yes or no?"

The dark haired girl seemed slightly taken aback by the question.

"Um… yes?"

Are you confident in your skills as a bass player, yes or no?"

"Yes obviously. Lich, what's this about?"

"Come down to the park after school tomorrow. There are some people I want you to talk to. And don't worry; it's definitely nobody you haven't seen before."

Marceline could practically hear him smirking through the phone at that last part.

"I promise it'll be worthwhile."

"Sure fine. I've really got no reasons not to believe you. I'll be there. But in the off-chance that this is some prank or a total waste of my time, then you're not gonna like what I do to you."

"Marceline, you haven't done anything so far that I _didn't_ like." He replied smugly.

Marceline felt her cheeks burning.

"See you tomorrow."

***Somewhere else in the city***

Lich hung up the phone and smiled to himself. Everything, as usual, was going exactly as planned.

* * *

><p>Home Economics was uncomfortable. Their teacher Ms Tree-Trunks (an older woman of much sass) had instructed the students to bake an apple pie as their class assignment. Marceline and Bonnibel were partners for the year and their teacher was still unaware of their recent falling out. The two students stood awkwardly next to each other, neither one looking at the other. Marceline was still completely galled at Bonnibel and made a point to show it.<p>

The pink girl could do nothing but carry on with class as she tried her best to ignore Marceline's rough handling of the equipment as she indignantly chopped the apples with enough force to slice straight through the table. The last apple was cut so loudly and with such force that it caused the younger girl to yelp as she jumped away from the knife wielding red eyed girl beside her.

"Y-You almost took off my fingers!" the alarmed girl cried.

"Sorry, I'll work on my aim." The dark girl replied, with some acidity to her voice.

Bonnibel let out a sigh of relief as she returned to preparing the dough.

"Next time I won't miss your fingers" she said darkly twirling the knife in her hand.

Bonnibel's heart began pounding against her chest. Adrenaline pumping through her veins, her mind telling her to run. She listened to it.

"E-E-Excuse me miss, I n-need to go use the bathroom!" the pink girl announced to the teacher as she rushed out of the classroom, her hands still covered in flour.

Marceline slammed the chopping knife on the counter and left the room to go after her, not bothering to ask for permission before leaving.

Bonnibel burst through the bathroom door. Thankfully there was no one else in there with her. She propped herself up with her hands against the sink, leaning into her shoulders as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red on the edges and her face was paler than usual. Her body was wrought with worry.

"_Oh glob… she thinks I hate her! Everyone thinks I hate her!"_

She splashed some water on her face and grabbed some tissues to wipe herself with. As she brought down the white material from her face, her eyes became drawn to a dark figure standing behind her in the mirror. She froze.

The second she turned around Marceline was already on her. The older girl grabbed the pink girl by the collar and slammed her against one of the stall doors. The positioning brought back a sense of familiarity for the younger girl. But there was no warmth here, no sense of safety. This was cold… and dangerous. Here, with her back against the wall with Marceline close in front of her, Bonnibel felt fear creeping up her spine. As the young girl trembled in the older girl's grip, she stared into the troubled teen's blood red eyes. Their demonic flare was not lost on her as they burned with a fury so strong that the fires of hell would've been put to shame.

"M-Marcy…?"

"Don't call me that!" The older girl snapped.

"I-I don't want-"

"What? To be friends with me anymore? I'm sorry but I already got that message." She snarled, slamming Bonnibel into the stall door again.

The younger girl cried out in pain.

"Marcy-Marceline p-please, you're hurting me!"

"That's the idea." She said as her grip tightened.

"I don't want things to be like this between us! I don't want to-"

She stopped mid-sentence as her back seethed with pain. Her face scrunched up as she winced.

"_Fix things"_ she thought _"I have to fix things, before _he_ gets involved"_

"Marcy I have to-"

The school bell rang. Marceline dropped her as she backed away.

"You get off this time _Bonnibel_." She spat. "I might see you later after school. Can't wait for you to finish that sentence." She scowled, exiting through the bathroom door.

"And by the way Bonnie" she heard her voice call. "My cheek still hurts."

The words stung. Bonnibel didn't like this twisted side to Marceline's personality. This _demon_ she'd kept locked up inside her. In all the time they'd known each other Bonnibel never thought that her friend was capable of such nastiness. And Bonnibel thought of everything.

Then again; hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned.

* * *

><p>"<em>I'll be in the park in about half an hour Lich, I just have to take care of some things at my house first"<em> she texted.

Marceline wasn't even at her front door yet when she felt her phone buzzing.

"_It's cool. As long as your there, we don't mind."_

Marceline opened the front door and stepped into the house. She could hear voices coming from the sitting room as she walked down the hallway. She quietly dropped her schoolbag next to the stairs and went to inspect the source of the noise. As she strolled into the sitting room, Marceline spotted Simon and Betty on the couch, holding hands. The red-haired woman was resting her head upon Simon's shoulder whilst he leaned his own head upon hers. They appeared to be talking about something. Whatever it was, it kept making them laugh.

They hadn't spotted her yet so Marceline quickly scampered out of the room to give them some privacy, however on the way out her curiosity got the better of her as she stood by the room's entrance in the hallway. Her brow furrowed as she tried to listen to what they were saying.

"So will we still be living here after we're married?" Betty asked as she cuddled Simon's arm.

"Hmm… I don't know… do you reckon the back garden will be big enough for them to play in?"

"Well we could always check. It'd be a shame though. I love your little house!" she giggled.

"I'm just worried that there wouldn't be enough room. What, with Marcy already using one of the rooms in the house, it only leaves us with one guestroom."

"Well they could always share when they're little" Betty began "That way Marceline could keep her privacy and hopefully Marceline will have moved out to go to college by the time they get too big to share."

Simon chuckled.

"What's funny?"

"I just still can't get over the fact that one day we might have a little you and a little me running around the house"

"Aww! That's so cute! We could call the boy Simon Jr!"

"Oh glob, don't even joke about that!" the brown haired man cried happily as hugged her closer.

The red-haired woman draped an arm around Simon's torso as she moved in to cuddle him.

"I'm actually really glad we're finally doing this now, before I get too old." Simon laughed as he twirled a piece of his brown hair. "I can already feel my hair turning white!"

"Oh, don't say things like that! You're only forty seven, Simon! You're still _very _young" Betty reassured him. "And handsome" she purred into his ear.

"Hey now!" he laughed. "Save _that_ for later, ok? For all we know, Marcy's standing on the outside of the door listening to everything we say!"

Marceline's chest began pounding. Did Simon know she'd been eavesdropping?

"Oh glob you're right." She realized, remembering that they were in a very public part of the house. She turned and grinned at him, "You're still handsome though"

"I know." He smiled, as rested his arm around Betty's shoulders and leaned back into the couch.

Marceline silently crept up to the stairs and noisily ran up and down the first three steps to give the impression she was just coming downstairs. She strolled lazily into the sitting room and grinned at the two adults on the couch.

"I heard somebody say 'Simon Jr'." she grinned. "Anybody want to tell me what that's about?"

"Oh, we were just talking about how we _might_ try to have children after we're married." Betty replied cheerily.

"What children?" Simon asked sleepily as he woke up from a short half-sleep.

Betty raised an eyebrow.

"Simon, we were _just_ talking about it. Remember, the whole Simon Jr joke?

"Oh of course, sorry!" he laughed "Glob I feel stupid!"

Marceline grinned as she rolled her eyes.

"Alright well you two have fun; I'm going out to meet some friends."

"Ok then, well tell Bubblegum I said hi!"

Marceline flinched.

"S-Sure, Simon. I'll tell her." She stammered, as she left the room and walked out the front door.

"_I'll tell her…"_

* * *

><p><strong>Wow! Marceline seems <em>really<em> bitter over what happened with Bonnie! How are they going to fix their friendship? Will they _ever_ fix their friendship? Will Bonnie ever really get over what happened at the concert? And what's Lich up to? According to you guys he seems to be always up to something!**

**Leave your reviews if you want to see what happens in Chapter 15! I promise I'm not evil! XD**


	15. Chapter 15: Friends

Chapter 15

Marceline found Lich standing around in the park with about five other people. He waved at her as he saw her approaching and made it so that the rest of the group was aware of her presence.

"Hey Lich, what's u- oh my glob."

The people standing around Lich weren't just any people. It was the band that had played at the concert a few months ago. It was the Undead Magicians.

"Marceline, I assume you know everyone here, or at least recognise them."

"Y-Yeah!" Marceline stammered, completely in awe of the fact that Lich actually _knew_ famous people. Let alone the people in his favourite band.

"Well just in case, I'll introduce everyone by name: This is Bongo" he said as he pointed to the drummer. "That's Drake and Marcus" pointing to the bassist and guitarist. "And then this is Matt and Keila."

"Sup" they all said in unison.

"I'm just going to give you a rundown of the situa-"

Lich was suddenly interrupted by Marcus.

"Hey, shouldn't _we_ be the ones explaining things…?"

Lich Looked at Marcus with his emerald eyes. The brown haired man suddenly seemed entranced as he met the grey-haired boy's gaze. Any opinions he may have had suddenly ceased.

"Let _me_ talk. After all, I'm the one who knows her."

"K" he answered robotically.

"Aaanyway" continued Lich, turning around to face Marceline again "Marcus here and all the rest are basically retiring. Well everyone except Bongo."

The chubby drummer gave a half-hearted wave.

"Look here's the deal; Bongo wants to continue the band and Drake has already gotten his younger sister Keila to replace him as the guitarist. Matt's friend Guy is going to be playing the keyboard because… why not I guess? But they still need a bassist and a singer. And _you_ can fill both roles quite nicely."

Marceline's eyes widened. Was Lich serious? Was she actually being offered a spot in a band?

"Are you serious?" she asked sceptically.

"Dead serious." Lich replied. "I'll let you and the band talk it over." he stated as he walked over to a park bench. He spun around and sat down on the old bench, crossed his legs and leaned back into the seat.

Marceline's focus turned back to the Undead Magicians.

"So you guys seriously want me to join your band?" she asked, twirling her black hair in one of her hands.

"Well… no one here wants to let Bongo down. He's the reason we became a band in the first place." muttered Marcus.

"But have you guys even heard me play? And on top of that, how does _Lich_ know I can sing?"

"He said he heard you in music class once and he even played us a recording. And after hearing you speak, there's no doubt you're the same person who's singing in the tape."

"_But I've never sung in music class…"_

"Are… are you guys really that desperate…? No offence or anything like that, but you're a supposedly really successful band and I'm just basically… a nobody."

The band just turned and looked at each other awkwardly. Matt turned his gaze onto Marceline.

"Yes." He answered bluntly.

"I don't know…" Marceline said as she scratched the back of her head. "I mean I'm flattered, but… I just don't think that I'm 'band material'…" Marceline exchanged a look with Matt. "I get stage fright."

"Oh for glob's sake, Marceline you're an amazing singer and an even better bassist!" cried Bongo "You're literally perfect for the band and you're telling us that you're going to throw away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, just because you're a little scared?!"

"I-I…"

"C'mon Marceline!" joined Keila "We'll do whatever you want! We'll even let you name the band! Heck you can put your own name in it!"

This gave Marceline some food for thought. She blocked out the voices of the band members as she pictured herself on a stage with Bongo, Keila and whoever Guy was. She could hear the crowds cheering, the stage lights shining and she could feel her bass in her hands, music blaring as the night went on. She wanted this. This was a life that would most people could only dream about. But if she said yes and if the band was successful… she would be living it. Marceline brought herself back to reality and raised her hand to invoke silence.

"I'll join your band." She said.

"Oh, that's grea-"

"On one condition." She smiled as she looked towards Keila. "_I_ get to name the band."

Bongo walked up to the raven haired girl and scratched the stubble on his chin. He held out a hand which Marceline grabbed and shook.

"Done" he smirked.

Over at the park bench, Lich watched the events unfold. He didn't take his eyes off them as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He lifted the device up to his face and waited for the other person he was calling to pick up.

"Hey, Lich. What's up?" he heard Bonnibel ask.

Lich didn't answer for a while and just stared at the Marceline and the band. A slow smile crept up on his face as he finally spoke.

"Too late."

* * *

><p>Bonnibel shuddered as she hung up her phone. Lady took notice when she turned to look at her.<p>

"(Who was that?)"

"It was Lich" she gulped.

"(Aaaaand…?)"

"I think… he… beat me…"

"(At what?)" The blonde asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter…" the younger girl grumbled.

The two girls continued walking around the shopping mall until they reached a public bench. They both dropped their bags at the bench and fell into the seat, eyes half closed from exhaustion.

"(Are you going to tell any of the teacher's?)" Lady asked as she turned to look at her pink haired friend.

Bonnibel bit her lower lip. Lady was the only person she'd told about her encounter with Marceline. And she was also the _only_ person she was planning on telling.

"No." she replied.

Lady jumped up in her seat. "(Why not?!)"the alarmed girl demanded. "(She could've seriously hurt you back there! You could've come off a lot worse than just a sore back!)"

"I know that… but at the same time… I kind of deserved it." The pink girl whispered.

"(Why in the name of glob would you think that?)"

"Because I've hurt her more than she could ever hurt me…" she whimpered as she sank further into the cold steel bench.

"(_What_ are you talking about?!)" Lady asked, her voice gone slightly higher-pitched.

"She thinks I've abandoned her" Bonnibel answered "And in a way I guess I have…"

Bonnibel thought back to when Marceline had come crying to her house after she'd found out about Simon's engagement. She could remember how distraught the older girl was. How utterly devastated and hurt she felt.

"_I feel like everyone I care about is just abandoning me. First my mom, then my dad" Marceline tried to hold back her emotions but the tears continued to spill from her eyes. "and now Simon!"_

"_And now me…"_ Bonnibel thought to herself.

"(And in what way exactly, have you 'abandoned' her?)" the blonde inquired. "(And more importantly; why?)"

Bonnibel flinched. Her cheeks slowly turning rosy.

"I-I don't want to talk about it…"

Lady sighed in defeat, accepting that she wasn't going to get much more out of the pink girl.

"(Alright…)"

Lady's phone started ringing. She pulled out the phone from her handbag and opened it to see who was ringing her. The second she saw who was calling, she immediately answered it and began happily chatting away. Speaking so quickly that even Bonnibel couldn't understand her. When she eventually hung up, Bonnibel just stared at her with a pair of curious blue eyes.

"Who was _that_?"

"(Jake. He was just letting me know that he's waiting for me outside and if I still wanted him to give me a lift home.)" she replied casually.

This peaked the pink girl's interests.

"He has your number now? Is there something going on between you two?" she smirked.

"(What..? No!)" the older girl exclaimed, her obvious blush betraying what her mouth was saying.

"Then why does he have your number?" Bonnibel pressed, clearly enjoying Lady's reactions.

"(B-Because I'm teaching him how to play viola!)" she stammered.

"Seriously?" Bonnibel replied, not masking her disappointment very well.

"(Yes, but you _can't_ tell anyone! He's worried it might ruin his reputation if people found out he was learning how to play such a, [his words not mine]; soft instrument.)"

"Why do _you_ care about _his_ reputation?" shot Bonnibel.

"(Because, I'm a nice person!)" Lady countered.

"Suuuure…" the pink girl said sarcastically.

"Hey, what are you two girls talking about?" asked a gruff voice coming from Bonnibel's left.

The two girls turned around to see Jake Mertens standing there wearing a leather jacket and holding a black biker helmet in his hand. The blonde boy smiled at Lady as he scratched the stubble on his cheek.

"So Lady, you ready to go?"

"(Yep!)" she said excitedly as she got up from the metal bench and grabbed her bags. She suddenly stopped and turned back around to look at Bonnibel. "(You don't mid me taking off with Jake do you…?)"

"Of course not! I was actually about to head home myself, so I guess this works out for all of us."

"(Thanks Bubblegum!)" she smiled as she went over to Jake, who took one of Lady's bags as a sign of courtesy.

"Hey, Jake?"

"Yeah?" Jake replied, not fully paying attention.

"You have a bit of Lady's lipstick on your shirt collar."

"What?!" he cried, grabbing his shirt and inspecting it frantically before realizing what was happening.

He and Lady just stared at each other awkwardly as their cheeks burned a right red colour and Bonnibel keeled over with laughter.

"You two are _so_ easy." She giggled.

* * *

><p>It was late evening when Marceline finally left the park. Marceline and the band kept going on about the finer details of their new career together such as; the new name, where they would practice, their first gig, who would be their manager and what would be their logo. It was a long in-depth conversation about their future and it was important that Marceline remembered every detail.<p>

The wind blew in her face as she walked home alone. The streetlights were slowly starting to turn on as the evening got darker. Marceline rubbed her hands together before stuffing them into her jacket pocket. As she approached the area where her street was located, Marceline spotted a head of pink in the distance. Without thinking, Marceline jogged over to the person but slowed down as she got closer.

She crept up behind the pink haired girl and then began walking alongside her, keeping her head down the whole time. As she was about to overtake the girl, she suddenly whispered; "Bonnie" and waited for a response.

The pink girl suddenly stopped walking and Marceline turned around to face her.

"I _did_ say I might find you after school." She said calmly.

The pink girl remained silent as she stared into Marceline's red eyes, making the raven haired girl feel uncomfortable. A gust of wind blew past them and sent black and pink hairs fluttering in the breeze.

"So what's up?"

The pink girl still didn't say anything. She looked as if she was deep in thought.

"Bonnie, come on. Talk to me."

Bonnibel finally broke eye-contact with her only to shoot a couple more glances back at her.

"Bonnie!" she shouted more aggressively now.

The younger girl wanted to fix things between herself and Marceline. She wanted to badly to talk to her again. But something was preventing her from doing so. Something that she was constantly reminded of every time she looked into those ruby orbs on the raven haired girls face. She wanted to talk to her, she wanted to so much. But she couldn't. She just couldn't…

"Look, I'm sorry I was a bit rough with you earlier today but I'm calmer now! We can talk!"

Bonnibel looked away. A mistake she shouldn't have made.

"Are you being serious right now?!" Marceline yelled as grabbed the pink girl by the scruff of her coat. "I'm trying to be friendly and I even apologised for earlier, but you just stand there and ignore me? What's _wrong_ with you?!"

The pink haired girl remained unresponsive, seemingly trying even harder not to look at Marceline.

Marceline was reaching the breaking point. She couldn't stand it. How someone who had been so close to her was just ignoring her as she stood right before, was just unbelievable. A single car passed them. The raven haired girl's entire body shook as she angrily pushed Bonnibel against one of the streetlights. She continued to yell at the pink girl, demanding a response, begging for a reply.

"Globdamnit Bonnie! Why won't you talk to me?!" she cried as a hot tear ran down her right cheek.

Bonnibel turned her head, her eyes pointing down at the wet pavement as the wind brushed past them.

Something inside the raven haired girl snapped. She held Bonnibel up against the metal as she raised her fist in the air. Bonnibel's eyes widened with horror as she realized what was about to happen. All the rage that had been building up inside Marceline was about to be let out. She struggled to contain her anger as it burst through the surface. Her fist flew straight forward towards Bonnie's face, breaking her jaw.

Except it didn't.

Marceline just stood there with her fist trembling in the air as warm tears flowed down her face as she lowered the pink girl. Bonnibel could only stare up at her in a state of utter confusion. Her whole body shaking uncontrollably from the fear of being struck.

"I could never hit you." The raven haired girl sniffled. "I thought… you were my best friend Bonnie. I thought you actually liked me. And now for some reason, you want nothing to do with me anymore. And you won't even tell me why!"

Bonnibel looked up at her friend, her lower lip quivering.

"You see I actually still care about what we had." She said as she lowered her fist and let go of Bonnibel. "Which is more than I can say for you…" she whispered sadly while holding her cheek.

Marceline walked away from her old friend for the second time that day, leaving her behind in the cold streets. As Marceline walked further down the road, she thought that she could hear someone crying. For some reason she couldn't explain, Marceline turned around.

* * *

><p><strong>Double update because yolo!<strong>

**Welp! Marcy's in a band now! Bonnibel is still awkward around her and Lich is getting involved in everyone's lives. But why? WHY?! ****Also Jake and Lady suck at hiding their relationship XP**

**Chapter 16... meh... I don't really know when I'll get around to writing that one. Gonna be a little busy this week ._. Just leave your reviews and I'll decide from there!**

**(By the way, I'm dressing up as a vampire for Halloween! Sixteen isn't too old to dress up for Halloween, right? Right...? ... Don't judge me! XD) **


	16. Chapter 16: Decisions

Chapter 16

Marceline turned around to see Bonnibel still on her knees on the wet pavement with her hands covering her face. The older girl remained motionless as she observed what was happening in front of her. All Marceline had done was express her frustrations, in an albeit slightly aggressive manner. With maybe the hint of a guilt trip added in for good measure. But surely Bonnie wasn't _that_ sensitive. A girl, who had seemingly not shown any signs of actually giving a damn about her, shouldn't have been affected _that_ much by Marceline's words.

Evening had turned into night. The streetlights now fully lit, their glowing yellow beams shone directly upon the pink girl sobbing in the middle of the footpath. The light breeze and turned into a cold gusty wind and was causing Bonnibel's shopping bags to flap noisily. The sound of leaves rustling in the trees masked the sounds of Marceline's footsteps as she slowly approached her.

Another car passed the two girls, splashing water onto the pavement that barely missed Marceline. The raven haired girl's red eyes glowed as the light from the streetlamp reflected in them. She walked on the outside of the borders of the lights range, making her appear as though she were just two glowing red orbs in the black night, floating towards the pink girl.

Marceline rested a pale hand on Bonnibel's shoulder. The fabric of her coat felt warm against her cold hand. She knelt down and slowly brought down the pink haired girl's palms away from her face. She gently lifted the younger girl's chin with her forefinger and looked deeply into her frightened blue eyes. Bonnibel gazed back into Marceline's sympathetic crimson eyes as she swallowed, clearly unsure of how to react or if she even wanted to.

"Look" Marceline began, her voice nothing more than a low whisper. "We may not be talking anymore, but I can at least walk you back to your house, right?"

The pink girl nodded in response. Accepting this as the only answer she would ever get, Marceline caringly hoisted the younger girl up off her feet and handed her one of her bags.

"I'll carry the other one." She smiled.

The two girls walked side by side down the dark grey streets for several minutes until they eventually reached Bonnibel's home. They'd walked in silence. Neither one, really trying to start a conversation. When they finally came up to the tall metal gate, Marceline brushed her hair away from her face as she turned around to look at Bonnibel.

"Well… I guess I'll lea-"

Her sentence was cut short as Bonnibel buried her head in the older girl's shoulder as she wrapped her arms tightly around her body. Marceline was taken completely by surprise by the sudden hug, but she accepted it by embracing the younger girl in her warm arms. Marceline couldn't feel the wind blow past her as Bonnibel clung to her. In that moment, the whole world had been forgotten by the two girls standing outside the metal gate.

"I miss you…" Bonnibel whimpered.

Marceline's eyes widened.

"W-What…?"

The pink haired girl didn't say anything; instead she just squeezed the raven haired girl tighter in response. Marceline gently pushed Bonnibel away from her body and held her by the arms.

"If you miss me, then why aren't you talking to me anymore? Why do you keep avoiding me all the time at school?" the older girl questioned. "I _need_ to know Bonnie."

The younger girl lifted Marceline's hand away from her arm and brushed away her pink hair. She tried to look up at her friend, but found herself failing. Instead she just held one of Marceline's hands in her palms and spoke softly.

"Every time I see your face… every time I hear your voice… it keeps making me think about…" she whispered "Every time I get too close to you… it just reminds me of… how you felt…"

"_How I felt…?"_

"I'm just _so_ scared Marceline…" the pink haired girl whimpered. "I'm just so _terrified_ of… of…"

Marceline's black hair fluttered in the cold night wind.

"And then when I see you now… it-it's just too weird!"

"Bonnie, what are you…?"

"I'm sorry…" the pink girl answered as turned away from her friend stepped through the metal gate.

The tall steel gate creaked as it closed behind the pink haired girl and screeched as it slammed shut behind her. Leaving the black haired girl standing alone outside the large house.

* * *

><p>Peppermint cracked his knuckles as he stood up from his wooden desk. The fireplace on his right made the cold grey room glow a warm orange colour. The stoic man walked up to a shelf and pulled out one of the drawers. He reached inside and took out a small black glock pistol. He pulled out the magazine to ensure that it was loaded before opening another drawer and pulling out a suppressor.<p>

"You've become a real pain these last few months" he said as he attached the suppressor onto the gun's muzzle.

He turned around to face a tall man wearing a sheriff's hat. The man was tanned and rough looking and yet still managed to carry an air of tidiness and decency. However the most notable trait he had; was the bandages that were covering his left eye and ear. He was held down on his knees by two men in sunglasses wearing black bouncer suits with yellow ties. His wrists were bound together by a pair of cold steel handcuffs.

"What was it again…? Arnold, Peace-Master, Neeson? You'd think I'd remember more easily, considering how much of a nuisance you've been to my business affairs."

Peppermint pointed the gun at the man's forehead.

"Tell me what you want me to write on your headstone; Peace-Master or Arnold Neeson?"

The man remained silent.

"So you're not even going to start begging for your life…?" the red and white haired man wondered. "I can respect that."

There was a click as Peppermint's thumb disabled the safety.

"I have children." The man said calmly.

"Oh good, you're talking. I was worried this was going to be straightforward."

The man lifted his head slightly in disgust at Peppermint's comment only to be forced back down by a rough hand on his shoulder.

"Give me a reason not to shoot you right now. I'll pretty much take any excuse to not waste the bullet." Peppermint stated. "Also, my niece just got all A's in her test's yesterday, so I'm in a _very_ merciful mood this week."

"I didn't think someone with a heart as black as yours would be capable of mercy." The bandaged man spat.

"No, no provoke me more. My trigger finger _isn't_ itching like crazy." He answered sarcastically.

"I have a file on my computer at home. If I'm not there in the next six hours to press the edit button, the file will automatically get sent to my entire contacts list. Most of whom are in the media business. The rest are in law enforcement."

"And what's on that file? Furthermore why do you have such a ridiculous security set-up? I can't even begin to tell you the amount of practical problems that has, let alone how cliché it is of you…"

"What do you think is on that file? It's all the evidence I've been building in my case against you so far. Not enough to get a conviction, but enough to get you plenty of unwanted media attention and a lot of fed's poking their noses around in your affairs."

"…"

"Is there a problem?" the bandaged man smirked.

"No. No, I'm just trying to get over the sheer stupidity that is unfolding right in front of me…"

"What?!"

"Ok" the older man sighed.

"1: I know where you live and where you work. I could shoot in the head and find that laptop within six hours very easily and erase or destroy any data you have on it.

2: Even if I let you live, there's still the danger of what's currently on that laptop and of you sending said data in its current state.

3. If I can't delete the file, then I'll just delete your contacts list. Then your computer will have no one to send the file to.

4. If I don't kill you and I destroy the file, there's still no guarantee of you not continuing to pursue me. And that would just send us back to square one.

Which leaves me with only one option."

The muffled sound of a bullet escaping the barrel of the gun filled the grey room.

Peacemaster looked down at his wrists only to see that his bonds had been shot at the chain.

"You're free to go."

"W-What?"

"However…" Peppermint began dubiously "Here are the terms of your release. When you get home tonight, you're going to delete everything on that file and then destroy your laptop. If you don't, I'm going to put a bullet in each of your children's heads."

The tall man stared at him, eyes wide with his jaw hanging open in disbelief. Peppermint had him by the balls and they both knew it.

"Sound simple? Excellent. Now get out of my office."

Peppermint signalled at his guards with a wave of his hand as they grabbed him by the scruff of his coat and dragged him out of the room and eventually, out of the house. Rough, was not an adequate enough word to describe how they handled him.

The older man returned to his desk and dropped down into his soft brown chair. He left his gun on the wooden desk and stretched in his seat before picking up his phone. He dialled a couple of numbers and waited for the person on the other side of the call to pick up. Eventually someone answered.

"Hi Simon, it's Peppermint. Listen, I was wondering if you and Betty would join me for dinner tomorrow night? I haven't really seen much of you two lately and it would be nice to catch up. … That sounds great, see you then."

* * *

><p>Marceline lay in her bed thinking about what Bonnibel had said. The dark haired girl's hands rested on her stomach whilst she twiddled her thumbs as her mind raced.<p>

"_What did she mean by; 'how I felt'…?"_ she wondered.

Marceline groaned to herself as she rolled over in her bed and onto her stomach, burying her face in the blankets. She thumped her foot against the mattress in frustration. She lifted her head and picked up her phone from her bedside table. The screen of the phone glowed in the unlit room as it illuminated Marceline's face.

She scrolled down her contacts list until she eventually came across Bonnibel. The eighteen year old was debating on whether or not to actually text her pink haired friend. The raven haired girl sighed as she dropped the phone onto the bed and dropped her face into the covers. The phone remained in the contacts list, still ready to make a call until eventually the screen faded to black and the bedroom was once again plunged into darkness.

* * *

><p>Bonnibel paced around her dimly lit pink room, biting down on one of her fingers as she did so. Her mind continued to draw back to the hug outside the gate. The only form of friendly contact the two girls had had since… since…<p>

Bonnibel brought her fists up to her forehead as she fell back into her bed, bouncing as she landed. She grabbed a pillow and pressed it against her face, groaning into the soft fabric. She had to get over this. She was determined to get over this. She couldn't allow something like _this_ to jeopardise her friendship with Marceline any more than it already had. Especially since the other girl clearly had no memory of that night whatsoever.

The pink girl felt a pang in her chest when she thought about this. Why was she so bothered by this? Why did she feel so… hurt… that Marceline didn't remember anything? It was a night she'd never expected to happen. For all of her intelligence there was _no way_ she could've possibly anticipated that Marceline would come on to her like that.

But the thing that was bothering her the most was that… she let it happen. Yes, she had been drunk at the time as well however; she was still sober enough to be _very_ aware of what was going on. She could've stopped it at any time she wanted. She'd even _tried_ to stop it when it all started, but after that… she just let it happen. The guilt wracked away at her conscience, pulling at her body like heavy fingers. Had- had she… _taken advantage_ of her drunken friend…? Why? Why would she do something like that? How could she just use somebody so close to her?

Bonnibel took the pillow off her face. But despite what she thought now, back when it all happened, the morning after; Bonnibel thought that she and Marceline had shared something… special. When she woke up the next morning next to her raven haired friend wearing the t-shirt she'd lent her, Bonnibel didn't think she had _ever_ felt so happy in her entire life. So when she found out that Marceline didn't remember anything, not even a little sliver of what had happened the night before; something cracked inside her. She felt utterly destroyed. She almost felt like she'd been used. But now? She was beginning to suspect it was the other way around…

How could she ever tell Marceline what had happened?

"_Hey Marceline, you don't remember any of it, but I had sex with you when you were totally hammered at the concert, we're cool, right?"_

No matter how she phrased it in her head, it still didn't sound right. There was no way of sugar-coating what had happened. Bonnibel sat up in her bed and pressed her hands against her temples. W-Was it rape…? No, no Marceline had consented; she was the one who initiated it. But at the same time… she wasn't in her right of mind. In more ways than one, Marceline wasn't really all-there that night. These thoughts haunted her ever since the concert.

Bonnibel rushed out of her bedroom and charged straight into the bathroom. She threw open the toilet lid and emptied her stomach. This was too much to process on a nightly basis. This wasn't just affecting her mentally anymore, this was starting affect her physically too. This constant weight on her mind was wearing her down. She had to end this. She had to tell Marceline, even if cost her their friendship forever, even if it ruined her reputation at the school, she just couldn't and wouldn't let this secret to continue to ruin her life. She had to tell Marceline.

* * *

><p><strong>Shit just got real.<strong>

**So, what do you think is going to happen next? Is Bonnie really going to tell Marceline about the concert, or will she chicken out at the last minute? And where does Marceline stand in all of this? How does _she_ feel?**

**I guess we'll find out in the next chapter.**

**Leave your reviews and tell me what you thought. What I did right, what I did wrong, etc.. Any and all criticism is always welcome!**


	17. Chapter 17: Inconvenience

Chapter 17

The empty sky was blue and the breezy air was warm. For a day, the shade had become a benevolent shield as sun burned the city below with a vengeance. The flaming orb in the sky had seemed so welcoming at sunrise, but was now raining down fiery judgment upon the whole town today. The heat was so unbearable, that even the birds had decided to stay in the shade. It was so hot that you could nearly smell the odour of melting tar on the roads. Every car, stair handle, every single piece of metal exposed, was hot to the touch. And one poor soul was being dragged around all day in the scorching weather by his seemingly insane girlfriend, who apparently thrived in the heat.

Bonnibel searched all day and not once did she find Marceline. She wasn't answering her phone and according to Betty, she hadn't been home since early this morning. However, her will did not falter, if anything she was even more determined to find the raven haired girl. Bonnibel pulled on neck of her white t-shirt as she fanned herself with her hand. Thin beads of sweat trickled down her face, a result of both being exposed to this ungodly weather and running around all day in search of the ever elusive Marceline. Bonnibel took a swig of her bottled water as she revaluated her remaining options.

She had visited nearly _every_ single person in Ooo that could possibly have known where Marceline was. The pink haired girl tossed her water bottle into a nearby bin and left in search of the one person she still had yet to ask. Ossibus Lich.

* * *

><p>Bonnibel stared down the front garden. The dull grey house looked unkept and had an unforgiving atmosphere floating about in the yard. The grass was wildly overgrown and the flowers had been taken over by weeds. Ivy grew upon the walls surrounding the house, seeping into cracks in the brickwork and unfortunately; seemed to be the only thing holding the place together. Bonnibel felt a piece of concrete shift under the weight of her foot as she took a step out into the front yard. The whole house was surrounded by a thick hedge, blocking out any sunlight that attempted to reach the deprived plant-life. Bonnibel felt a chill run through her body as she walked into the shaded yard.<p>

Eventually she came up to the front door, the only part of the house that appeared to be still in good condition. Bonnibel raised her hand to knock at the door, but before her fist could make contact with the old wood, a tall grey haired boy opened it. Lich's hair had grown past his head and was now resting in grey curls upon his neck. He was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and an old faded brown polo. His brow furrowed as his green eyes focused on the pink girl standing in his porch.

"I have a feeling I know, but I'll ask anyway; what do you want?"

"Jeez, it's nice to see you too" Bonnibel replied sarcastically. "Listen, you wouldn't happen to know where Marceline is, would you?"

The green eyed boy smirked.

"Glob, I love being right…"

"Lich!"

"Oh right, sorry. Yeah, she's at a warehouse down in the industrial district with a couple of her friends."

"Do you know _which_ warehouse?" she asked.

Lich paused for a while, as if he were reluctant to speak. Eventually he sighed and answered the pink haired girl's question.

"Yeah, it's warehouse 19B. But seriously, I wouldn't go there now if I were you."

"Why not?"

"She's busy." He said sternly with a strong sense of authority in his voice.

Bonnibel wasn't amused.

"I don't care Lich. I have to talk to her as soon as possible."

The older boy smiled as he looked at her with his emerald eyes. His features becoming more furrowed, his body language screaming with arrogance.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" He pondered. "From what I hear; you two haven't been talking very much, have you?"

"Whatever." she seethed. "I have what I need. I'm going."

As Bonnibel turned to leave she felt a strong hand grabbing a firm hold of her right arm, pulling her back.

"I said; she's _busy_."

Bonnibel broke away from Lich's grip causing her to stumble backwards a bit.

"You think I care?! This is too important to wait! Whatever she's doing can't possi-"

"I _said_; she's _**busy**_." Green fire flickered in the older boy's eyes, commanding an authority that should not under any circumstances be challenged. His glare outmatched hers, his will burned straight through her defences. His resolve remained unaltered as he stared her down.

"I don't know _exactly_ what's going on between you and Marceline, but you couldn't have picked a worse time to suddenly decide to fix your problems."

"Hey! You're the very one who's been telling me to fix things with her! What's with all of th-"

"That was over three weeks ago _Bonnibel_!" he roared.

Bonnibel flinched at the use of her real name. It felt so unnatural, so alien to hear it coming from a voice other than Marceline's. Like a predator waiting for its prey to make a mistake, Lich detected her hesitation instantly. Seizing the opportunity to continue talking, Lich pressed on.

"She's busy, Bubblegum. She's in the middle of something really important and if you go down now, you'll only distract her."

"Distract her? What's sh-"

Bonnibel never got a chance to complete her sentence as Lich slammed the old wooden door in her face.

"_Well at least let me finish what I want to say first…"_

* * *

><p>By the time Bonnibel reached the industrial district, it was late evening. The endless blue skies had been replaced with a dim orange that proceeded to glow until it reached the horizon. The cool breeze offered some well overdue respite from the relentless heatwave that had taken hold of the town. Bonnibel buttoned up her light jacket in anticipation of colder weather. As the pink haired girl approached the warehouses she immediately noticed that only one of them had its lights turned on. If Marceline was going to be anywhere in this area, it was going to be there.<p>

Bonnibel continued to walk towards the warehouse and sure enough when she eventually reached the building; it had the label of 19B printed in huge green writing on its outer wall. As the seventeen year old got closer to the structure, she could've sworn that she could hear music.

The sounds got louder and louder as Bonnibel approached the main entrance. She poked her head around the corner and felt her eyes widen. The old grey warehouse was packed with people. The overcrowded room felt very alive as people jumped up and down with their arms in the air, cheering on. A huge audience was gathered around a makeshift stage at the end of the warehouse where Bonnibel spotted a band playing. The pink haired girl observed the band from afar in a slightly quieter corner of the warehouse. She proceeded to watch the band playing loudly in front of the large crowd.

Bonnibel recognised the drummer immediately. It was the same man that had played at the night of the concert Marceline had taken her to. His heavy arms smashed against the drums with enough force to break them, but somehow the sturdy drum-set stood strong despite the abuse from its owner. However Bonnibel quickly realized that despite the drummer being consistent, this _wasn't_ the same band. The pink girl's eyes shifted left and right as she analysed the rest of the group. The lead guitarist had been replaced by a younger dark skinned girl with a large curly afro resting on top of her head. She wore skinny jeans a pair of black rocker boots and a dark green hoodie with a Creeper face on the chest. Another new member was a tall fair haired young man dressed in mostly brown who, despite being a fairly long distance away from her, had a very obvious stubble on his face. Even though the band's genre appeared to be rock, the young man somehow managed to still make his role with the keyboard fit in very nicely with the other instruments. The performer's instruments blended together harmoniously. They worked off each other very well and were actually not that bad to listen to.

Then she spotted the singer. A tall pale girl with jet black hair stood before the band as she sang to the crowd. It was difficult to miss her as she really made her presence known, her stance emitted confidence and power. As if she'd anticipated it to get colder, the singer was wearing a short denim jacket that cut-off halfway through her midriff. She wore a warm looking green t-shirt and a short black skirt that stopped halfway down her thighs. She also sported a pair of red and black boots with a pair of charcoal stockings underneath. Her long black mane of hair flew wildly as her head bashed back and forth to the rhythm of the song.

The pink girl turned her gaze towards the crowd. She scanned the audience, searching for any sign of her dark haired friend. Bonnibel rubbed her arms as she looked around. Because she was on a slightly elevated platform, it gave her the perfect vantage point to view the crowd. Seconds passed, minutes passed. Eventually an hour went by and the pink girl still saw no sign of Marceline.

Giving up her search for now, Bonnibel turned her attention to the band and decided to listen to them play. She closed her eyes about halfway as her ears drank in the music flowing through the air. Her ears twitched underneath her pink hair as she filtered out the cheering of the crowd and focused her attention on the singer's voice.

"_-you never told me why you left me,_

_Without you now my life isn't easy,_

_Every day I think about you!_

_Every day I can't stop wishing for, a re-do!_

_This feeling cuts through me like ice,_

_Cuts deep into my soul._

_Not gonna tell you this twice._

_It makes my heart, feel black, as coal!_

_It's like a ri-ver of pain, the tears will still flow,_

_Currents are dragging me under, I'm afraid I have to go._

_But now we're coming to a drop,_

_Tumblin down the waterf-all,_

_There's no slowin down, there's no stall…_

_Except for when we land… I think I felt my he~art just stop._

_When we fell over the waterfall…_

_I think my heartbeat… my heartbeat just… stopped…"_

The singer turned to her side to face the other side of the crowd, obscuring her face from Bonnibel's view as she addressed her fans in the crowd.

"Alright! Enough of the sappy stuff for now! Let's have some _real_ fun!"

Her words were met with a loud cheer and applause from the enormous crowd in the warehouse. She nodded at the drummer who began tapping his sticks against the crash cymbal, waiting for the rest of the band to join in. The guitarist exploded into action, her fingers flying across the chords, her gaze never leaving the instrument. The song was significantly more fast-paced then the previous one.

"_Welcome! Welcome, to my world!_

_You've just walked into, a psycho's mind,_

_There's no escape now, from the monster behind,_

_Who'd of thought that you were just in, the head of a little, girl!"_

There was a pause in the song where only the drums and the guitar were playing before the dark haired sing continued.

"_I don't know, which is easier!_

_To burn you alive? Or induce a seizure?_

_Doesn't matter now!_

_You're forever damned!_

_Welcome to my hell, welcome. To. My. World!_

Another pause as the drums took over before dying down, giving priority to the guitarist and the singer.

_You're, just a, sinner,_

_I'm, just a bored, singer,_

_There's nothing, nothing to do…_

_Think of something now before the demons inside, come for you…_

_Not sure how we ended up together,_

_But let's not fight now, because you know what would be better?_

_If I just ran away,_

_And left you, here to stay,_

_In this rotting world…_

_Or would you rather? Rather stay, with a psycho girl?!"_

The singer took a break again, letting the other musicians have their moment. The keyboard player suddenly joined in, but rather than ruining the atmosphere, it made the moment.

"_You're, just a, sinner,_

_I'm, just a bored, singer,_

_You could escape now if you wanted…_

_Escape these weird and twisted feelin's,_

_Or would you rather stay here and be haunted?_

_By, your inner demons?!_

_Didn't think, you'd give up,_

_Didn't think you'd be easy to scare…_

_But when the devil comes out of the fire, and into damnation's eyes you'll, stare,_

_Meanwhile I'll just sit back stare and say hey dad! Wassup?!_

_You can't ru-n for-ever,_

_You can't hide, we'll find you where-ever,_

_You made a mistake, now you're trapped in a cell,_

_You really shouldn't have followed me… to hell._

The drummer ended the song, smashing against the drums, bashing his head in the air and raising his arms high above his head, before bring them down for one final beat to finish the song.

The dark haired singer's long locks of hair fell over head as she bent down to pick something up at her feet. Bonnibel watched her curiously from afar. Her voice had sounded so familiar. Why was that? Was it because she'd seen the drummer before and this band's music was so similar? Or was it something else…? As the singer stood back up, she froze.

Marceline's eyes zoned in on a small speck of pink in the far back of the crowd. The red eyed girl smirked as she lifted up her red axe-bass and held it proudly out in front of her.

Bonnibel took notice of the red instrument almost immediately as her mind went blank. She stared up at the raven haired musician holding up her bass. The pink haired girl felt her eyes widen. That couldn't have been Marceline, could it? Marceline got stage-fright. There's no way that it could possibly be…

The young girl's doubts were suddenly wiped away as the dark haired singer looked in her direction and held her bass up high in the air. Her red bass. Her red _axe_-bass. A sudden feeling of realization washed over her as Bonnibel's lips parted in sheer disbelief. Marceline grinned in her direction as she swung her instrument in front of her and spoke into the microphone as the crowds continued on cheering.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to certain someone in the crowd tonight" Marceline smirked, her voice full of cockiness. "You know who you are." She added before nodding towards her bandmates who looked at each other in confusion as Marceline said something to them.

As the raven haired girl turned around her bandmate's began playing quietly, however they played just loud enough to make their presence known as Marceline's bass took priority.

"_Sorry I don't treat you like a goddess,_

_Is that what you want me to do?_

_Sorry I don't treat you like you're perfect,_

_Like all you're little loyal subjects do..._

_Sorry I'm not made of sugar and I'm not sweet enough for you,_

_Is that why you always avoid me?_

_I must be such an inconvenience to you!_

_Well, I'm just, you're problem…_

_I'm just, you're problem…_

_It's like I'm not, even a person… am I…?_

_I'm just, you're problem…_

_Well, I-I-I-I-I-I shouldn't have to justify what I do,_

_And I-I-I-I-I-I shouldn't have to prove anything to you…_

_I'm sorry that I exist, _

_I forget what landed me on your blacklist._

_But I-I-I-I-I-I shouldn't have to be the one who makes up with you, _

_So…_

_Why do, I want to…?_

_Why do, I want t-"_

The rest of Marceline's words were drowned out by the cheering of the crowd, blocking out whatever the last words of the song were to Bonnibel's ears. The pink haired girl stood there awestruck. Marceline rarely ever sang. She only ever sang whenever something was something deeply personal was troubling her. It was very clearly aimed at her and since this song was clearly not in the original plan (judging by the expressions of Marceline's bandmates alone) she couldn't brush it off like it was just something ordinary she sang for the gig. Marceline smiled as she spread her arms wide and thanked the audience for coming.

"Thank you everybody! You guys are awesome as hell!"

As she walked off the stage with the rest of her band the crowd continued cheering before eventually dispersing.

* * *

><p>Bonnibel waited in the back for most of the people to finally leave before eventually running up to the stage and into the back area where Marceline and her band should've been. It was a cross between a small office station and a hallway in the warehouse. Grey metal walls surrounded her as she wandered the hallway, passing ladders, desks and tall cylinders of plastic and metal. Low-hanging white lights hung from the bare ceiling, leaving the wires and electronics exposed. There was a smell of dust and steel and little buzzing sounds could be heard from one of the flickering broken lights. It was gradually getting colder in the warehouse as the body heat emitted from the crowd was starting to fade away.<p>

Bonnibel eventually came to a corner and had to turn right, finding herself in a little section filled with four office rooms. Bonnibel walked up to the first office and peered in through the blue door, finding the drummer tidying away his drum kit. She closed the door and went up to the other two doors, both of which were locked. Annoyed at how it was the last door she checked that Marceline would most likely end up being in, the pink girl groaned to herself angrily as she peaked through the fourth door. Sure enough, Bonnibel ended up finding Marceline standing whilst looking at her phone in the centre of the room with two of her other bandmates and another person she didn't recognise who was crouched down on his knees looking through the bottom shelf of one of the lockers, the door obscuring his face from view.

Bonnibel composed herself and took a deep breath. She slowly pushed open the rest of the door and walked into the office. Despite having neon pink hair, the people in the room didn't appear to notice her stroll into their makeshift dresser-room. Marceline was distracted by her phone which she still hadn't taken her eyes off. Her other two bandmates were busy conversing with each other and putting away their instruments and thus weren't alerted to her presence yet. Bonnibel quietly approached the red eyed girl and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

Marceline lifted her head up and let out a casual "Hmm…?" as she turned to look at Bonnibel. Upon seeing the pink haired girl, Marceline's facial expression had changed slightly. However the pink girl couldn't tell as to what mood it had changed to.

"Hey Bonnie."

Bonnibel was slightly taken aback by Marceline's overly calm reaction to seeing her.

"Um, hi Marcy…"

"So?" the dark haired girl asked "How did you find me?"

"Lich told me."

Marceline put away her phone and folded her arms.

"Jeez, that guy's a worse gossip than freakin LSP…" she cringed a little when she mentioned the talkative girl.

"Uh, not really. I kind of… interrogated him a little."

"I find that very hard to believe."

"Yeah well, you know how th-"

"What do you want Bonnie?" Marceline asked bluntly.

Bonnibel's eyes moved around, scanning the room before resuming their focus upon Marceline.

"Is uh, is there a place where we could talk in private…?" she asked whilst scratching the back of her head.

"Well… not really considering we're actually about to leave and-"

Marceline was interrupted midsentence when the person by the locker spoke up.

"Hey Mar Mar, I hope you don't mind but I told some of the guys in the crowd that I was banging you after the gig." He said in a joking manner.

"Ha! You wish!" she scoffed.

"I do wish" Ash replied as he stood up and planted a kiss on her cheek. "By the way, I finished signing the rest of the of those permit and insurance forms for renting the warehouse out, so now I just need to post them."

"Wow. Who even still uses post?" she chuckled.

"Business people and the like." He replied smartly, wrapping an arm around her waist. He turned his head slightly and finally noticed that Bonnibel was standing right in front of them.

"Oh hey! Bubblegum!" He said with surprise "I didn't see you come in here. Heh, I actually haven't seen you around much at all. So! What's going on with you?"

Bonnibel stood there baffled by the sight in front of her. Her mouth was moving a bit, however no words came out. Her blue eyes kept darting back and forth between Ash and Marceline. And from the couple's perspective, she wasn't hiding her confusion very well.

"Y-You two…? W-When…?!"

"A few days ago actually" the white haired boy smirked.

"A few days? Feels like a week!" Marceline grinned.

"Probably is a week…" he chuckled in response.

"H-how?"

"Jeez Bonnie don't act so surprised." Marceline replied with an eyebrow raised. "It's almost like you're-"

Marceline didn't get to finish her sentence as Bongo came in through the office door, holding his drum kit in hand.

"Guys, (and Guy…) we gotta go now. We only rented this place for till midnight and it's currently 11:55."

The raven haired girl turned to look at her confused pink haired friend.

"Sorry, but we'll have to talk another time. As you can see, now isn't exactly good for me…"

"Wait! What about on your way home? Or back at you house? We can talk there, right?"

Ash and Marceline eyed each other awkwardly before Marceline eventually turned back to Bonnibel and spoke up.

"Uh… that's not good for me either. You see we were kind of gonna…" Marceline made a nodding motion towards her boyfriend Ash as she gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry" she shrugged.

"Oh… well that's um…"

"It's ok!" the raven haired girl replied, patting Bonnibel's shoulder as herself and her bandmates started walking past her and out the door. "Look, I'm gonna be busy for the next couple of days with the band and… other stuff" she grinned, looking at Ash, who couldn't help but smile back. "But your birthday is coming up soon, right? We can talk at your party. I can always move around things on my schedule in advance to make time for it."

"Well if it means we can talk then…"

"Great! See you then!" she said as she walked out of the office dragging Ash by the wrist, leaving Bonnibel alone in the warehouse.

* * *

><p>Ash broke away from the kiss as he moved back to his seat in the car.<p>

"Hang on a sec; I just remembered that I left something in the engine."

"Ugh! Can't it wait?" Marceline groaned in frustration.

"If you want the car to blow up later when we're driving it; sure!"

"Go."

"Thank you" he replied as he gave her a small peck on the mouth before existing the car.

As Marceline watched him in the warm, stuffy car as he walked around to the front of the chrome vehicle and lifted up the hood, she suddenly felt a light buzzing in her pockets. She pulled out her phone and flipped it open, wondering who the text was from and hoping that it wasn't her phone company trying to sell her a discount deal on her credit again. She opened her Inbox and found one new message from an Unknown Number.

"_Oh for glob's sake, not these pricks again…" _she thought to herself.

She clicked open to view the message.

"_Wow. You're band sucks worse at music than you do at sucking dick."_

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that _they _had been at _her_ gig. Something snapped inside Marceline, like fuse breaking a circuit, making her to do something she never did. Reply.

She'd been receiving these messages continuously ever since she was attacked in the park and she had tried her damned hardest, not to answer to them. However, this was her night and nobody was going to take that away from her.

"_Do you know what I love? The fact that you guys clearly have nothing better to do with your lives other than stalk some random girl in your school. You guys really are fucking pathetic."_

With that she closed her phone and stuffed it into her pocket. As Ash opened the car door and climbed back into the car, Marceline felt her phone buzzing again. With a disgruntled moan, she pulled her phone back out of her pocket.

"_Looks like the freak's getting brave. But don't worry we'll get you and your little boyfriend in the car soon, you whore."_

"Who's that?" asked Ash as he closed the car door behind him.

"Nobody" Marceline answered.

She looked out of the car window, into the parking lot. She couldn't see anyone out there but all the same…

"Mar Mar? Are you ok?"

"Drive."

"What?"

"Drive away from here now!"

"Jeez ok!" the startled white haired boy cried.

He turned the key in the ignition of the car and put his foot down on the accelerator driving out of the parking lot they were staying in and towards Marceline's house.

* * *

><p><strong>Hang on a second, I thought this was a Bubbline fanfic, what the glob is Marceline doing with Ash?! Well, I'll probably explain that in the next chapter along with all the other stuff I'm cramming in there! Ha! I <em>really<em> can't wait to write the next few chapters now! (Btw is it possible for a girl to get 'cock-blocked'? Cause I feel like that's what just happened in this chapter...)**

**Seriously though, this was by far the longest chapter I've ever written. **

**Anyways! Leave your reviews! Any and all criticism is welcome! (Also I can't wait to hear how mad you are about Ash. I know for a fact that I've pissed _some_ people off!) But in all seriousness I do appreciate your feedback. It's _your_ comments that make me want to continue writing so I really do have to thank you in that respect. **

**Also I feel like I have to apologise for my atrocious song-writing skills. I kinda just write the first thing that pops into my head and I don't really put much thought or effort into them! Sorry! XD**


	18. Chapter 18: Ashes Part I

Chapter 18

Lich woke up with a start as he heard someone banging furiously on his front door. The grey haired boy sat up in his bed and groaned as he rubbed his temples. His parents were glob-knows-where so he was left alone in the house once again. He expected a gang or just some body looking for trouble so he grabbed a green wine bottle and a lighter. On his way down the stairs he uncorked the glass bottle with his teeth and stuffed a tissue through the nozzle.

He held the bottle behind his back as approached the front door. The knocking became increasingly louder and louder as he got closer. It sounded as if someone was mashing both of their fists against the door in a fit of anger, rather than a person who just wanted him to open the door. He extended an arm and quickly opened the door holding the bottle and lighter out in front of him ready to throw it at whoever might've been there.

As the old door swung open, an enraged pink demon stood before him in his doorway. Unfortunately for him, he realized it too late.

"Wha…? Bubblegum…?" he said, quickly hiding away his 'weapon' and placing them on the counter next to the house phone in one quick motion. "What are you doi-?"

He got cut off as Bonnibel charged into the house grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and kneed him in the stomach sending him keeling to the ground.

"Gah!" the grey haired boy wheezed "W-What the f-fuck?!"

Bonnibel slammed the door behind them and gave Lich the same look he had given her three hours ago. Her eyes had flames in them and her mouth was pierced shut. Her brow had furrowed into a single point and her fists were alarmingly clenched.

"WHY?!" he managed to shout as he regained his breath back, the air returning to his lungs.

"What the glob is she doing with Ash?!"

"Wha-?" he asked groggily.

"I said; WHAT. THE GLOB. IS SHE DOING. WITH ASH?!"

"Ash…?"

Bonnibel slapped his right cheek with her left hand, sending his face flying in the direction he was struck. He turned back around clutching his cheek in his palm.

"Marcy wasn't joking…" he sniggered "You've got one hell of a slap!"

She picked him up off his knees and shoved him against the wall. Her rage came off her in waves. The pure unadulterated infuriation exuding from her was astonishing. Lich grinned madly as she continued to scream abuse at him, his ears not even paying attention to her words. Quickly enough, Bonnibel soon realized that he actually seemed to be enjoying himself rather than being utterly petrified of her outrage like she'd expected.

"Stop smiling!" she screeched, slamming him against the wall with more strength than a girl of her build should've possessed.

His smirk suddenly turned into a serious expression as he grabbed her wrist and twisted in a single calm movement. She fell on one knee, her other arm dropping down and quickly snapping back up to grab his hand in an attempt to relieve some of the agony he was inflicting on her wrist. The younger girl cried out in pain as he ever so slightly applied more pressure to her arm, sending her whole body turning so that her back was facing him. Her shoulder had been turned in an awkward position causing her to drop her other arm back to the floor in order to support the rest of her body.

"Ah, Bubblegum…" he mused "You forget who I am."

He grabbed the back of her hair, pulling at it until she stood upright and spun her around, but not before pushing her across the hallway to the other wall.

"I only play nice in school and in public." he whispered into her ear, "But you're in _my_ house now.

He pulled his head away before retreating a couple of steps backwards. Bonnibel stood there pressed up against the wall as Lich watched her from the other side of the hallway.

"You better have an excellent reason for attacking me like that. Otherwise you might find a foreign body in one of your organs." He said in eerily calm voice. "You know, I've always wondered if your blood was pink…"

"What?!"

"Never mind, we both know it's red" he said as he lunged at her with a small gardening axe he had hidden upon a concealed shelf behind him.

"Aaaahhh!" she screamed. "What the glob Lich?!"

"What are doing in my house?! What are you doing, trying to attack me like that? Hmm?! What are you trying to accomplish by doing something like that?!"

"Stop swinging that thing around! Why do you even have one of those?!"

"Answer me!" he shouted as she ducked out of the way of one of his wild swings, diving onto the blue carpet.

"I want to know why Marceline and Ash are together!" the pink haired girl sobbed, cowering in the corner of the hallway. "You bipolar… son of a bitch…" she snivelled.

The grey haired boy let go of the gardening axe, letting it drop to the ground, seemingly satisfied with her answer his face returned to its calm, collected state as he looked down upon her with a huge smirk on his face.

"Now… was that so difficult?" he asked.

"Glob, I hate you…"

"The feeling's mutual. Now, tell me again; what's wrong?" he replied as he knelt down next to her with a surprisingly concerned look on his face. However Bonnibel simply reminded herself that he could be an excellent actor at times.

"I-I want to know why Ash is going out with Marceline."

"Aww… so you found out?" he said sarcastically.

She shot a look at him, forgetting that her glare had no effect on him.

"So, would you like some coffee to calm your nerves? Cause you're shaking like you've got freakin Parkinson's or something."

The pink haired girl gave him a look of pure disbelief as he stood up, grinning madly at her.

"You're right, coffee's not ideal. I'll make some tea instead."

Bonnibel's eyes followed the grey haired boy as he wandered off into the kitchen. As she slowly picked herself up from the floor she heard a voice call from the other room.

"So will that two spoons of sugar or three?"

* * *

><p>Bonnibel stared at Lich from the other side of the table as she sipped her tea. He watched her curiously, his gaze flickering back and forth between her hair and her mug. The younger girl placed her cup back on the kitchen table and folded her arms in the cold house.<p>

"Why the glob do you have a gardening axe?"

"Why the glob does Marceline have an axe-_bass_?" he countered with a casual tone in his voice, as supped from his own brown mug.

"Touché." She replied.

"The grey haired boy gave her another smirk as he downed the rest of his tea in one gulp.

"Alright, let's get on with this. You came knocking at my door in the middle of the night, assaulted me in my own home and are now demanding answers from me in reference to you ex-best friend's love life. So, get on explaining before I decide to retrieve that axe."

"She's not my _ex_-best friend!" Bonnibel cried defensively.

"Well she's hardly your current one is she?"

The pink haired girl remained silent as she stared into the brown liquid in front of her.

"Answers are always appreciated, Bubblegum."

"I… I don't even know _what_'s going on between us right now…" she sighed burying her head in her hands, she began pulling her fingers through her hair as her palms pressed against her temples. "Everything's just becoming more and more complicated… and I _don't know_ what to do!"

"Well go on. It's a weekend; after all, I can always catch up on my sleep tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm just really confused right now…" she replied quietly, he whole body sinking into the table, her arms out in front of her with her ear pressed against the worn wood. Lich had his head tilted in a peculiar way as he watched her like a scientist would observe a lab-rat in an experiment. His green eyes suddenly became unnaturally wide, the black pupils almost consuming the irises. He continued to look at her this way with increasing interest until his mouth eventually broke into a bizarre smile.

"You're relationship with Marceline has gone south…" the grey haired boy began, seemingly talking to himself. "You refuse to have a conversation with her, however you clearly seem to still care about her… all of this started when we came back from the concert… a night of which Marceline was unbelievably drunk so _anything_ could've happened in that regard… and this definitely couldn't be about Ash as far as I can tell; since you've never shown anything but distaste with him… and yet you seem outraged that he's going out with your former best friend… I'm also detecting a lot of jealously, however…"

Lich returned his gaze to Bonnibel as the smile on his face suddenly devolved into a smirk.

"Tell me, Bubblegum… are you gay?"

Bonnibel's fist suddenly clenched on the table, as she rose up from her chair.

"We're not getting anywhere with this, and you're really starting to annoy me." She announced with some acidity to her voice.

"When I came here looking for you…" Her voice trailed off. "I don't what I expected… answers maybe… but no. I'm leaving."

"Bubblegum."

"What?"

The grey haired boy turned to look at her, his face filled with genuine sympathy.

"Sometimes smart people, do stupid things."

He got up out of his chair and walked passed her in the hallway, holding the front door open for her.

"Don't be one of those people."

The pink haired girl didn't say anything, she just walked out of Lich's house and found herself standing in a freezing front garden and listening to the sound of a door closing behind her. The cold night air blew past her as she pulled her jacket tighter, looking up at the cloudy night sky. She felt a buzz in the pocket of her shorts. She pulled her phone out from her pocket and went to her messages list. She'd gotten a text from Peppermint asking 'where she was so late'. The young girl sighed as she continued on walking home, unaware that a pair of green eyes continued to watch her from an upstairs window. Underneath those shadowy green eyes lay a devious smile that followed the pink haired girl down the wet grey road until she was out of sight. If not for the insulation of the walls and windows of the house, laughter would've been heard throughout the entire street, its dubious nature scarring the ears of any creature unfortunate enough to hear.

* * *

><p><em>Ash found Marceline standing outside Bonnibel's house in the cold windy night. The air was bitterly cold and the wind cut through his heavy black jacket. He pulled down his furry hood as he slowly approached the dark haired girl whilst she held herself up against the gate with one hand gripping the bars.<em>

"_Marceline…?"_

_The raven haired girl's head spun around, quite obviously surprised at seeing Ash of all people, around here at an hour as late as this._

"_W-What do you want Ash?" she sniffed._

_The white haired boy felt his eyes widen._

"_Holy-! Marceline are you crying?!" he cried as he rushed over towards her._

"_Marceline, talk to me, what's wrong? Did you and Bubblegum have another fight? Did… did she hit you again like last time…?"_

"_No, no. No." she sobbed as she leant against the cold metal bars. "It wasn't anything like that, it's just… glob she's confusing me so much these days!"_

"_Y-You know what? I'm gonna walk you home, because well… you look like you've been emotionally wrecked!"_

"_Emotionally wrecked?" she sniffed. "Yeah, that's one way to put it."_

"_C'mon." he said as he tugged on her arm a little._

_The dark haired girl remained motionless as he attempted to make her move._

"_Listen! You can't stay out in the cold like this! You'll get sick if you stay out too long, or worst case scenario, you'll die."_

"_What do you care?!" she shot angrily._

"_I care a lot…" He replied quietly as he gently took her hand in his palm and tugged her until she started walking._

_The pair continued walking through the chilly night. Surprisingly enough, they didn't run into anyone else as the streets appeared deserted. Marceline's hand felt strangely warm in Ash's as he held her tightly, walking slightly ahead of her, making sure she didn't lag to far behind._

"_So you gonna tell me why you were so upset earlier?" He turned around to see tears running down the dark haired girl's cheeks, causing him to stop walking. However, whether they continued or not, no longer mattered as they had reached Simon's house and were now standing in front of the yard. "Or are _still_ upset about…" he murmured._

"_I-I feel like nobody cares…" he heard her whisper, her face pointing to the ground._

"_Hey now. You and Bubblegum might be going through some stuff right now, but that doesn't mean she doesn't care about you! And anyways_ I_ care, and I really don't like seeing you this way!"_

_He placed both his of his hands on her shoulders. His face softening to a look of concern and an expression of sympathy._

"_She'll come around Marce."_

"_Did you really mean that?" she asked looking up._

"_Yeah, friends always come around. I mean, there's no way she could stay mad at you for too long, right?"_

"_No, I… I meant the other thing…"_

_Ash tilted his head sideways and stared at her in a peculiar fashion._

"_Marceline." He smirked. "Of course I ca- Mfff!"_

_The white haired boy got cut off as Marceline pulled him into a kiss, grabbing him by the collar and not letting go. When she eventually broke away from him, he could only look at her in disbelief._

"_You're eyes… they're red." He breathed._

_Marceline recoiled a bit. Her expression was already plunging into regret and shame before he'd even had a chance to reply. However the white haired boy saw this. Cupping her cheek in his right hand, he pulled her back towards his face and whispered "They're beautiful…" before locking lips with her once again as she wrapped her arms around his neck._

_In the distance, a lone figure could be seen tossing a coin up and down in his open palm, before eventually hurdling it across the road. Green eyes glowed in the night sky as a low chuckle could be heard through the gusty wind._

* * *

><p>"Hey, Marce, what's on your mind?"<p>

Marceline awoke from her daydream and looked around the classroom until she found a young blonde haired boy staring at her with an eye-brow raised. Finn watched her as she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes as she leaned back in her chair, outstretched her arms and let out a yawn.

"He~llo…? Whatcha thinkin about Marceline? You seem kinda out-of-it today."

The raven haired girl let out a half-smile as she brushed her hair back behind her ear.

"Nothing, it's just… Bubblegum's birthday is coming up in two weeks or something and I just really don't know what to get her… I mean, we haven't really seen each other properly in ages. Like, we had a falling out or something like that, and I… I just really want to get her something that says…"

"I'm sorry?" Finn smiled.

"Yeah" she grinned. "Something like that."

"Well I'm kind of invited to the party too, so why don't we both go to the mall today after school and I'll help you pick something out for her." He offered. "You two may have been a lot closer than I ever was with her, but I _have_ known her for longer, so maybe we could help each other out."

"Sounds good. And I'm sure Ash will give us a lift up there too- oh wait…" she realized "He actually can't! He has that thing with his parents after school… but I'm sure he'd loan us the car no problem!"

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah but…"

"What?" the blonde haired boy asked.

"I don't know how to drive." She replied sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. "Do you reckon Jake would be able to drive us?"

"Nah!" Finn laughed. "He's busy with Lady after school today. Aaaand every other day for that matter! I think she might be teaching him how to play the viola, cause one day when I came home early from school, I heard them up in his room with music coming from there too." The blonde finished. "Either that or he's dating her!" he added.

Marceline giggled at Finn's comment, her shoulders jittering up and down as she brought a hand to her mouth to stop her laughter from becoming too loud in the History class.

"That'd be the day. Oh! I know who might be able to drive us!"

"Who?"

"Lich! I'll talk to him about it after class. See if he's up for it."

Finn scratched the back of his head through his white beanie.

"Meh… I don't know about Lich though… But. If _you_ trust him, then that's good enough for me."

Marceline grinned to herself as she pulled out her phone as the bell rang.

"_Why wouldn't I trust him…?"_

* * *

><p>"I swear to glob, if you crash my car Lich…"<p>

The grey haired boy smirked arrogantly at his friend as he dropped the keys into his open palm.

"Funny." He grinned "We both know I'm a better driver than you."

Ash looked over the older boy's shoulder and saw Marceline talking with Finn by the car. An uncomfortable wince made itself present on his face as Lich pressed the unlock button on the car keys and watched the two friends get in.

"Just don't let her drink anything, ok?"

"That's a bit of an odd thing to say." Lich said with an eyebrow raised.

"No, I mean…" Ash began "She just gets a little _friendly_ when she's drunk."

The older boy laughed as he fixed his charcoal leather jacket.

"Well don't worry; I won't let her anywhere near me! And besides, they're just going to buy birthday presents for Bubblegum, why would we even _consider_ going near a drop of alcohol?"

"I dunno" the ash blonde boy said in response whilst scratching the back of his head with the other hand in his pocket. "I mean like… we didn't expect her to get drunk at the concert either now did we?"

Lich frowned.

"That was different. We were at a _concert._"

"Yeah well… ya never know…"

Lich was about to turn around to head off towards the car when he suddenly stopped.

"By the way, how do you know she gets _friendly_ with people when she's drunk?"

Ash gave him a nervous grin.

"Remember when she suddenly grabbed me at the concert and slipped me the tongue?"

"Ah yes… very out of character for her." Lich smirked.

Ash frowned at him.

"The point is I could smell the alcohol on her from a mile off, and she seemed kind of out-of-it too. Like, proper stumbling around and shit."

"I'll be sure to hide my beer stash." The grey haired boy replied sarcastically.

"Don't tell me you still throw those at people…"

"Only when I'm pissed off."

Ash chuckled at the thought of some poor idiot angering Lich by accident and finding a fiery beer bottle flying towards their face.

"Yeah…" he laughed. "Seriously though, keep her sober. If I remember correctly, she doesn't exactly give a shit about genders either."

Lich stopped dead in his tracks.

"What?"

"Well it was dark and all that, but I'm pretty sure I saw Marceline making out with Bubblegum near their tent after she'd carried her off." He shrugged. "I mean, who else has pink hair? Cause I'm pretty sure Gumball wasn't at the concert. He transferred freakin schools…"

Lich felt his eyes widen. Thankfully Ash hadn't seen his reaction so he decided that now was the best time to leave.

"_I fucking knew it."_

"Right, well I better not keep those two waiting any longer at the risk that they actually _do_ end up kissing each other out of sheer boredom!"

"Don't joke like that man! You're scary when you joke!"

"Whatever." He replied as he casually waved him off, making his way down to the car.

Lich was silent as he stepped into the car. He didn't reply when Finn asked him how he was, instead opting to just ignore his two passengers and set the key in the ignition.

"_Well I guess I finally know for certain; what happened at the concert…"_ Lich thought to himself as he glimpsed Marceline in the mirror._ "Glob, I love it when I'm right."_

* * *

><p>"So, what'd you get her?" Finned grinned at Marceline as they walked through the mall.<p>

It was late evening and many of the shops had now closed. The last remaining rays of the sun's light peaked their way over the roofs of nearby houses and buildings, only managing to sneak in scarce beams through the mall's high windows. The clouds had turned a warm orange colour and contrasted with the sky's dark blue hue. As the two friends strolled through the centre, they came across a ring of benches and decided to rest for a bit.

"Oh, just something _science-y_!" the raven haired girl replied giddily.

"Cool. I got her a pink picture frame for her photos. I swear as long as it's pink and if she doesn't already have one, that girl will _love _whatever you get her!"

"Hmm…" Marceline hummed, as she peered into her shopping bag. "I guess she _does_ like pink a lot…"

"You _guess_?!" Finn replied, shocked. "She has an _obsession_ with the colour!"

"Yeah." Marceline chuckled, closing her bag. "I guess she does."

Finn grinned madly as he leant back in his chair and rolled his eyes.

"Stop guessing so much, man." The blonde smirked. "I mean wo-man!" he added frantically.

Marceline burst out laughing, her eyes teary from the sheer joy she was experiencing.

"Wow, Finn. Just wow."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat…?" the poor boy whined.

"I swear we don't hang out enough…"

"Yeah…" he smiled.

Marceline turned in her chair so that she facing Finn.

"And? What did _you_ get her?"

"I just told you, I got her a pink picture frame."

"Oh, right." Marceline felt her entire face blush. "Well we've been walking around all day. I'm so tired that I'm bound to not remember _some_ shit."

Finn transferred his gaze towards the rest of the mall, watching managers and employees closing their businesses for the night as cleaners walked around them with their mops. The blonde chuckled to himself as he dropped his head back and rolled it around so that he was looking in Marceline's direction.

"So, how pissed do you reckon Lich is at us right now?"

Marceline glanced briefly at her red watch.

"Very."

"Alright." he said, slowly standing up from his seat, with some effort. "Let's go."

Marceline and Finn walked past the mall's cleaners as they made their way towards the exit. As they stepped outside the two friends spotted Lich in his signature leather jacket standing just outside the range of one a lone streetlamp in the car park, his dark silhouette only made visible by the orange glow coming from the tip of the cigarette he was smoking. Grey clouds of tobacco streamed out of his nose as he exhaled. Seeing them approach, Lich stubbed out the remainder of his cigarette and tossed into a nearby bin.

"You know you can get addicted to those, right?" Finn told him.

Lich merely glanced in the younger boy's direction then turned back towards Marceline before answering his question.

"Only weak people become addicted. I came here with two full packs and right now, I have one and a half left." Lich focused his green orbs on the young blonde. "I only smoke when I'm bored. _Not_ because I crave it."

"Hey, they're your lungs man…" Finn shrugged, throwing up his hands in defeat.

"Did you seriously just stand there all day smoking?" the raven haired girl questioned.

"Well, I texted Ash for the first twenty minutes, but then I got bored."

"And started smoking?" Finn piped in.

"Exactly."

Marceline smiled at Lich as the three teenagers walked towards the car.

"You have the patience of a god." She told him.

"That's _one_ way of looking at it…" the grey haired boy murmured.

* * *

><p>The road was dark and only made visible by the headlights of passing cars and the scarce few streetlamps found scattered around the area. Lich had the radio on low. Marceline sat there bored staring out the passenger window, resting her chin upon her open palm. Finn on the other hand, sat in the back seat and was busy texting Flaria on his phone. Every couple of minutes the two teenagers in the front of the car would hear a low buzzing sound, followed shortly by laughter coming from the sixteen year old.<p>

"Well, looks like somebody's finally gotten into relationship wagon." murmured Marceline.

Lich's eyes briefly flicked in her direction.

"What do you mean? You've known he's been going out with her for ages."

"Yeah but I mean; it looks like they're finally starting to get serious."

"Good for them." The grey haired boy mumbled.

"What about you?"

"What about me…?"

"How's _your_ love-life going for you?"

"I don't have a love-life" he answered monotonously.

Marceline flinched inwardly. Annoyed at herself for forgetting about Lich's sexuality. But even so, something still made her want to ask questions.

"I know you're asexual." She said quietly.

The grey haired boy didn't even react. He just kept his eyes focused on the dark road.

"I-I've actually read a little about… people that'd are… asexual and-"

Lich cut her off.

"Are you going somewhere with this?" he asked with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

"The thing with asexual people is… they still have relationships but they're just not that interested in the whole" Marceline cleared her throat. "_Sex_ part."

"Good observation." he chuckled.

"But you're not interested in anybody at all. What's with that?"

The grey haired boy slowed down the car and looked at her with his piercing green eyes. He answered her in a serious voice.

"I'm dead inside."

Marceline was taken aback. Clearly dissatisfied with his answer.

"What? Why?! What does that even mean?" she questioned.

"Marceline, I'm driving, could you either just shut up or talk about something else?!" he announced forcefully.

The dark haired girl just tutted and and looked away from him, rolling her eyes in defeat.

"Alri-"

Marceline felt a sudden buzz in her pocket. Someone was ringing her. She picked up her phone and answered it without bothering to check who the call was from. She brushed her black hair away from her ear as she brought up her phone to the side of her head.

"Hello, who's this?"

The dark haired could hear sniggering in the background. Assuming it was a prank call she brought her thumb up to the screen to hang up when she suddenly heard a voice.

"Look out your window, emo."

The line cut off. Marceline slowly began tilting her head towards her window. As she looked through the dull glass she spotted a vehicle driving alongside them. Next to them was a large jeep filled with a group of teenagers. One of them waved and smiled at her menacingly. She felt her red eyes widen as their driver flashed her an evil grin and rammed the heavy jeep into the side of their car.

* * *

><p><strong>I left it on a cliff-hanger after not updating for over a week. Screw you, I have my own life to live! XD jk.<strong>

**No, in all seriousness, I'd like to thank all of my readers, for as of earlier last week "When I knew"'s view-count is OVER 9000! I mean wow! I literally cannot thank you guys/and gals enough! For those of you who were here since the beginning and have stuck it out this far... you guys just make my day. You honestly have no idea how great it feels every time I read one of your reviews. Good or bad, it doesn't matter. It's just the fact that you care enough to tell me what you think that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I swear I read one of the guest reviews and it literally made my day. "Dammit I knew there was a catch!" I couldn't stop laughing for hours!**

**By the way, could somebody print the words 'Manipulative' on Lich's forehead? Because this guy seems to be influencing everything! But to what extent exactly?**

**And if this chapter has over 6 reviews by the end of the day, I'll be uploading the next chapter tomorrow! If not... you'll have to wait another week! Or longer! ORAS is coming out on the 28th in the EU and I know for a fact that it's gonna be a massive distraction for me! I was originally going to make this just the one chapter but then I realized it was getting waaaaaaaaaaay to long so I split it into two. My story, my decision. Spheal with it. **

**B)**


	19. Chapter 19: Ashes Part II

**The following chapter contains content that some viewers may find distressing.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 19<span>

The three teenagers were rocked in their seats upon the impact. The sound of metal crashing against metal and the sound of glass shattering assaulted their ears as their attackers rammed into the side of their car once again. Marceline held on for dear life while Finn was bracing himself in the back for every impact. Marceline barely managed to catch a glimpse of Lich as they were hit again, this time causing their car to swerve closer to the edge of the road. Lich was holding back his panic as he attempted to keep his calm as the other vehicle continued to ram them from the side.

Marceline yelped in panic as their attacker smashed into their side, this time leaving a significant dent in the metal door jamming it permanently shut. Marceline jumped in her seat as she heard a loud popping sound that sent the car up in the air a couple of centimetres before dropping it down to a lower height, leaving a slanted view from the windshield.

"I t-think we just l-lost a tyre!" Marceline stammered in alarm.

"I know that!" Lich shouted. "How does telling me this help us in _any_ way?!"

"Who _are_ these people?! And why are they-" Finn didn't get to complete his sentence as their car was struck again by the jeep, the impact sending the sixteen year old's head flying into the side window. Silencing him with a loud thwump.

"Finn!" cried Marceline.

The dazed young blonde's head rocked back and forth, his eyes slipping in and out of consciousness as he finally lay slumped in the backseat. His body, motionless.

"Oh glob, oh, glob, oh, glob!" stammered the dark haired girl in a distressed voice.

"I'm gonna try and see if I can get them to back off by ramming them back, ok?!"

"S-Sure Lich! Do what y-you want!" Marceline agreed since she herself, had no good ideas.

It was as though they were the only two cars in the entire road as they battled it out in the cold night. Lich attempted to force their car to back off but to no avail. The large jeep overpowered the smaller chrome car.

"They're trying to knock us off the road!"

"Stop stating the obvious!" Lich roared whilst he continued to fight a losing battle for dominance on the road.

Marceline was quickly losing her nerve as her brain began screaming 'danger!' inside her skull. The sound continued to ring in her head over and over, almost in perfect rhythm with each of the blows from their attacker's jeep. Her chest felt numb and her upper arms and legs felt uncomfortably stiff, it was as though her body was preparing her to run for her life. But she was trapped in a car. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Her fight or flight response was rendered useless as she sat there helplessly, praying to glob that Lich would be able to shake them off.

Their strikes became more and more violent as the jeep pulled further back so it could do more damage every time it smashed into them. The constant sound of crashing metal made her ears ring.

"This isn't working Lich!"

"Alright! U-Uh…" the panic in his voice was now very apparent. "Just let me think!"

Marceline had no idea how Lich was even capable of pulling any rational thought from his brain while the black jeep continued to bash into them.

"Lich!" she cried.

"I'm gonna slow down the car so that when the ram us again, they'll go right past us and crash into the metal road guard!" the grey haired boy declared.

Lich took his foot off the accelerator and pulled the brake on the car as the jeep swerved right into them. Except Lich had slowed down too late. With the sudden lack of traction of the wheels upon road, the car had little to no resistance behind it when the jeep clipped the front of the chrome car, sending it spinning to the right as it crashed straight through the road guard. The car flew through the air momentarily, before crashing into a tree in mid-decent.

* * *

><p>Marceline had no idea how long she'd been unconscious. The only thing she knew was that her lungs were filling with smoke. Somehow the car had caught fire when it crashed into the tree and now the burning engine was threatening to blow them all up. She quickly spun over to Lich, coughing as she shook his shoulder in an attempt to arouse him from unconsciousness.<p>

"Lich! Lich! Wake up! _Ack!_ The car's on fucking fire!" she hacked through her smoke filled lungs.

The dark grey thick smoke invaded the car through the broken window, passing over the shards of broken glass like air through branches.

Lich woke coughing as he knocked away Marceline's hand away from his shoulder with one arm. His coughing became heavier as he keeled forward, desperately trying to empty his lungs of the poisonous gas. The interior of the car continued to get hotter and hotter as the blazing inferno in front of them raged on. Marceline turned her attention to Finn in the back seat. His entire body had been engulfed by the thick smoke leaving only the bottom of his jeans and his white runners visible. The dark haired girl wrestled with her seatbelt in a desperate attempt to free herself of the polymer restraint that was ironically enough, supposed to keep her alive. She yelped back in pain as the orange hot metal singed the skin on her fingertips. Trying again, she instead decided to wriggle her upper body out of the belt's grasp.

After getting her shoulder over the seat belts grip, Marceline crawled blind into the back of the car. She felt around with her hands trying to find Finn. She began panic when she couldn't find the blonde boy, however when her hand eventually came across an arm, she sighed in relief as she started to grapple with Finn's seatbelt. Failing in her attempts since she couldn't see, Marceline decided to chance it by pressing her thumb down on the burning safety lock on Finn's seatbelt buckle. She bore through the pain as the metal left a red burn mark on her thumb; however the adrenaline in her system was helping to keep her numb. She could feel herself slipping in and out of consciousness as she choked on the smoke in the however she pressed on.

After securing an iron grip on Finn, Marceline rolled onto her back and began kicking out the remaining shards of glass on the window and proceeded to crawl out, dragging an unconscious Finn behind her. Marceline breathed in her first gasp of fresh air as her head hit the wet grass. She crawled on her stomach, her legs pushing her forward while her arms held onto Finn. She rolled him onto his back and began patting his cheek.

"Finn? Finn wake up! Come on Finn don't die like this! Don't you dare do this to Flaria and Jake!" She screamed at the unresponsive boy.

Marceline didn't know CPR, however she had a vague enough idea of what to do. The raven hared girl pressed her palms against the centre of his chest and started doing compressions.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6…." She counted out loud. "…23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30!" she pinched his nose and pressed her lips against the unconscious boy's mouth, exhaling deeply into his throat. She hovered her ear over his mouth, listening for any signs of breathing. She couldn't hear anything.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30! - huuuuh!" she inhaled before once again bringing her mouth to Finn's and exhaling into his lungs.

She repeated this process over six times before Finn finally spluttered his first words of consciousness.

"Gah! Muh-mah-Marcy…?" he gasped, his head slowly turning around as he groggily scanned his surroundings. The young blonde's blue eyes widened. "Oh glob, the car!"

Marceline fell back into the grass, exhausted. But her respite didn't last long as she suddenly realized something.

"Lich!"

The two teenagers stared at the burning car, smoke bellowing out of it into the sky. Both of their faces were tear-stained and blacken from the smoke. The leaves of the tree above the car were also on fire as the car was burning itself into a black charred corpse of itself. Marceline was about to take a step towards the car when it exploded. A steel door flew through the air striking Finn sending him hurtling back down to the ground. In the corner of her eye Marceline saw figure clambering frantically from the car trying to escape the lick of the car's flames. He screamed as he clutched his burning face before collapsing to the ground rolling around, writhing in the blackened grass, his limbs thrashing wildly. Marceline tried to push out the blood curdling scream away from her ears as she darted straight towards Finn since he was closer to her. The heat of the fire could still be felt from where they were standing.

"OhmyglobOhmyglobOhmyglobOhmyglobOhmyglob!" she cried as she ran towards Finn's body, her knees crashing to the ground.

"Finn?! FINN?!" she pleaded with the sixteen year old.

"_Ack_… M-Marcy, I'm f-fine. I just n-need… _AGH_!" he screamed as he tried to move.

"Oh my glob Finn are you ok?! Do you need hel-"

"Hrmf…" he grunted. "Marcy… I-I can't move my arm. I t-think it's stuck under something…"

Thinking that his arm must have been trapped under the weight of the door, the older girl stood up so that she could try to shift the metal contraption. However as she unsteadily rose up from the grass, she saw that the car door was several dozen metres away from the both of them. Returning her gaze to the sixteen year old suffering in the grass, she suddenly felt her stomach drop.

"Oh my glob… Finn… your ar-"

An explosion drowned out the sound of her voice. As Marceline's head spun around she saw that Lich's body had stopped moving. He lay there in a slumped heap. His body still on fire. She dropped her arms down away from her face as she screamed for him.

"LICH!"

A third explosion from the car sent debris flying before she could even close her mouth. The impact force of the explosion sent two shards of glass flying directly as her. Finn watched in horror as Marceline fell to the ground with two shards of glass sticking out of her neck.

"M-Marceline!"

The dark haired girl held herself up with her arms as she looked around her. Her eyes focused on Lich's burning body before returning to what was left of Finn. She put a hand to her neck. Marceline looked down at the red grass beneath her. She was losing blood. Fast. She could feel her eyelids drooping; feel her mind failing her as it succumbed to the pain. The dark haired girl had already blacked out before her head hit the cold hard ground.

* * *

><p>Marceline awoke in a hospital bed staring at white ceiling. Her eyes darted left and right as she examined her surroundings. The room was mostly white and had hospital equipment littered all over the walls. The curtain around her bed was blue and her blankets were a little stiff. Marceline raised an arm only to find a piece of tubing stuck inside it and realized that she was wearing a light blue hospital gown. She motioned her other hand to remove the tubing however she was stopped when an adults hand rested itself upon her palm.<p>

"Don't take it out. The doctors said to leave it in." Simon whispered.

Marceline stared at Simon momentarily before embracing him. Both had tears running down their cheeks. Marceline could feel Simon's heart racing whilst he hugged her.

"Oh my glob, I was so worried!" he cried into her shoulder. "I've never felt so useless in my entire life, just watching you lie there!"

"It's not your fault Simon…"

"I don't care." He announced as pulled back from the hug, his hands now on her shoulders. "Your dad entrusted me with your safety and I completely failed."

Marceline patted one of his hands in order to try and comfort the older man. His thick gasses made his tears look massive. Simon clearly hadn't slept in a while as his brown hair was all messy and he had black rings under his eyes.

"How did I end up…?"

"Someone saw the fire and called for an ambulance. When they picked you up, they looked through your phone and found me."

"But how did they know that you-"

"Marcy…" the brown haired man smiled. "You have me marked in your contacts as _Dad_..."

There was a pause. Marceline felt her cheeks heat up as a blush overtook her. She lowered her eyes and pointed them down to the edge of her bed, knowing that this was going to be an awkward conversation.

"It's just that… you've always been more of a… to me and… I know he still alive... but…" Marceline couldn't find her words.

Her sentences were coming out in a vague jumble but nevertheless Simon understood. Simon always understood her.

"It's ok." he smiled, tears running down his cheeks. "I'm just glad that you're safe…" he said as he gave her a final squeeze. "I'm going to tell Betty that you're awake now. I left the poor woman all alone in the waiting room. Only one visitor at a time apparently…"

Marceline gave him a weak smile.

"It's ok Simon, you can go."

The brown haired man gave her hand a gentle squeeze before kissing her lightly on the forehead.

"I'll be back soon."

As Marceline watched Simon leave the room, she felt an odd itch around her neck. She picked up a small mirror lying on a tray next to her. She brought it up to her face in order to inspect the source of the itchy sensation. Her entire throat was wrapped tightly in several white bandages, with a little red blotch to signify where she had been bleeding from.

While she was distracted by her reflection, Marceline barely noticed a little speck of pink in the corner of her eye. She turned her attention to the door which was now being opened quietly by a girl no more than a year younger than her. Bonnibel peaked in through the door before actually stepping in upon noticing that Marceline was awake and sitting up in bed. She approached her slowly before stopping at just the edge of the dark haired girl's bed.

"Is it ok to hug you?" she asked quietly.

Marceline nodded in response. Less than a second after doing this, Bonnibel had already flung herself into Marceline's arms; her grip on the older girl was that of a vice. Marceline returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm, squeezing the younger girl in her arms. An unknowable amount of time passed.

"Hey Bonnie?"

"Yeah?"

Marceline slowly broke away from the hug.

"There was something important you wanted to talk about to me, wasn't there? I couldn't hang around to listen before since I've been so busy lately…"

"Yeah…" she replied cautiously.

"Well" she grinned. "I'm not doing anything now."

"Oh! Um…"

Bonnibel's mind ran in circles as she looked at her injured friend. Her eyes became focused upon the bandages around her neck and the tubing in her arms. She thought back to the trauma that her friend had just lived through. This was the last thing she needed right now. She _would_ tell her. But now was definitely neither the time nor the place.

"Well, I can't really think of anything… I'll probably remember it when you're at my birthday party though!"

Marceline smiled at the pink haired girl, her red eyes beaming.

"Ok, that sounds good." She giggled. Giggling that didn't last long as a sudden realization washed over the red eyed girl. "Do you know where Lich and Finn are?!"

Bonnibel flinched.

"Yeah I do but…"

"Take me to them."

The pink haired girl's eyes widened.

"Marcy, no. The doctors said-"

"I don't _care_ what the doctor said! If you care about me at all, then you'll take me to them Bonnie!"

Bonnibel's eyes briefly flashed with anger, but thankfully it was brief enough that Marceline didn't notice. That wasn't fair to say that. It wasn't fair to emotionally blackmail Bonnibel like that, however despite her conviction: the pink haired girl went along with it.

Bonnibel helped heft up Marceline out of her hospital bed, her hands somehow getting tangled in the big mess of black hair that rested upon Marceline's head. However in spite of their little mishap the raven haired girl stood up and pulled out the tube from her arm. Bonnibel rested an arm on Marceline's back as she guided her out of her room and around the hospital in search of the others.

* * *

><p>They found Finn first. Flaria had her head buried in his torso as she sobbed into his white blankets. He was dressed similar attire to Marceline. The dark haired girl recoiled inwardly as she caught a glimpse of his bandaged arm. Or rather his bandaged stump. When the car explosion sent the door off its hinges, it flew straight through the air and cut right through Finn. Amputating him instantly. The hospital staff said that they'd found his missing limb in the grass, however by the time they had gotten them to the emergency room it was already too late to do anything to save his arm. It wasn't for a while before Marceline eventually realized that he was conscious and talking to Flaria in an extremely low voice. The poor red-head didn't even appear to be aware of other people being there with her, since remained unresponsive and continued to sob.<p>

"How're you two holding up…?" Marceline asked quietly.

Flaria lifted her head and looked up at Marceline.

"Marceline! Y-You shouldn't be up yet! You're still-" she sniffed.

"I know. I'll head back to my room soon but only after I've finished seeing Finn and Lich."

Bonnibel entered the conversation with a barely audible voice.

"Um… Flaria…? Do you know where Jake is…?"

"_*sniff*_ Getting water for Finn. Oh glob, he's just so _angry_ right now that I… I have no idea what he's going to do."

Marceline and Bonnibel thought about this for a bit. While it was true that Lady had somewhat tamed Jake, he was still the leader of a dangerous biker gang and had (or has) a reputation for his merciless nature. If he got a hold of the people that did this to his little brother, he would be arrested for glob knows what the next morning.

"Finn?" Marceline began "How're you doing, little dude?"

"Ok I guess…"

"Ok?! But you just lost an ar-!" Marceline stopped herself before she said something she would later regret.

"No seriously it's cool! At least now I can start training for the Paralympics!" he announced cheerfully. "I hear fencing is one of their main sports."

Everyone in the room just stared at the blonde in disbelief. None of them, not even Bonnibel could begin to fathom how this boy could make light of any situation. Most people his age would've been destroyed at the very idea of losing a limb, but no, not Finn. Finn was willing to overcome any problem he had in his way. Once that blonde set his mind on something, he kept at it until he got it. The admiration for the young boy was practically radiating off the three girls. Especially Flaria who walked straight up to Finn, bent down cupping his cheeks in her palms and pressed her lips against his.

"My little hero." She grinned.

"I don't know about that!" he laughed. "_Marceline_'s the one who saved my life."

"Really?!" the red-head asked.

"Well yeah…" Marceline answered.

Upon completing her sentence, Flaria grabbed Marceline and hugged her tight. This was at least the third hug she'd received from somebody today. Flaria gave Marceline a small peck on the cheek whilst she thanked her over and over and over for saving her boyfriend's life. Eventually the red haired girl released Marceline and went back to her one-armed boyfriend, now holding his only remaining hand.

"I think I'll give you two some alone time" Marceline smirked as she took Bonnibel by the hand and dragged her out of the room. "C'mon, let's go visit Lich."

* * *

><p>Simon held his arms up to the back of his head as he approached Betty in the waiting room, sitting down on one of the hard plastic blue chairs next to her. He exhaled loudly as he brought down his arms to his side.<p>

"Simon?" Betty asked gently, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything is…" The brown haired man shook his head, taking his glasses off before bending down in his chair and burying his head in his knees. His fingers interlocked at the back of his head as he began rocking back and forth in his seat. "No. No! Everything is not ok!" he shouted.

"Simon…"

"Don't you understand Betty? I failed her! Do you have any idea what it's like to see someone you care about suffer so much?! I've never felt so _useless_ in my entire life, just _sitting_ there! Waiting for her to wake up!"

Betty squeezed Simons hand and looked at him in the eyes as he lifted his head up.

"I do know." She said with sincerity. "But you have to realize that none of this is your fault-"

"Betty, that's not the point." He retorted angrily. "That little girl means everything to me." He buried his face in his hands. "I just don't want anything to happen to her… I was so afraid that she wasn't going to wake up…"

Betty hushed the brown haired man and held him close.

"Simon, this was out of your hands. There's nothing you could've done. But you did more than enough by coming here. You've done more for her than her real father ever did and that's something to be proud of. You put all of this pressure on yourself to be the best possible father figure to her, but no matter how much you do, you've never actually taken a step back and considered how much you've already done."

Simon looked at her.

"You're an amazing man Simon. And one day…" she put her hand on her stomach "You'll be an amazing father."

Simon smiled as he leaned in against her shoulder.

"Alright… but let's save that for after the wedding, ok?" he smirked.

The red haired woman responded by giving him a little peck on the lips and hugging him warmly. The two adults sat there in the middle of the waiting room, content.

* * *

><p>"This is his room." Bonnibel breathed.<p>

The curtains of Lich's room were drawn and the light didn't appear to be on. Marceline took a step forward to open the grey door when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Marcy…" the pink haired girl began. "Are you sure you want to do this…?"

"Well… why not?" the raven haired girl questioned.

The pink haired girl turned her gaze towards the ground.

"It's bad." She said in almost a whisper.

"… I'm going in anyway." She told her.

Marceline placed her hand on the door handle when she heard a voice coming from down the corridor.

"Marceline!"

The dark haired girl spun around and saw a white haired boy running down towards her. Her eyes grew large as she realized who it was.

"Ash!"

The white haired boy took her by the waist in his arms and lifted her in the air as she wrapped her arms around him. As the two of them settled into the hug, Marceline heard Ash talking.

"Oh my glob, I was so worried about you."

As he pulled back from their embrace, the white haired boy noticed Marceline's bandages. Bonnie saw that his expression had changed, but she couldn't tell what to.

"Oh glob…" he whispered as he grazed them with the back of his fingers.

Marceline blushed a little bit at the pseudo-intimate touch before remembering that Bonnibel was standing next to them. The dark haired girl was torn. She wanted to visit Lich, but she also wanted to stay with Ash for a little bit longer. And they were in the section of the hospital that only permitted one visitor at a time so they all couldn't go in there at once like they did with Finn. Marceline turned to look at Bonnibel.

"Hey Bonnie? Could you go in and well… say hi to me for Lich…?" she asked awkwardly.

The pink haired girl sighed.

Yeah, I can do that."

The dark haired girl smiled.

"Thanks Bonnie."

Bonnibel opened the grey door and walked into Lich's room. She looked over at the older boy lying in the bed before gently closing the door.

"Sorry, but Marcy's-"

"Don't odder exlaining I can shee em roo the indow. The andages don't coher I eyes." He said a low raspy voice. His grammar was completely off.

Lich lay in bed with bandages covering nearly every bit of exposed skin he had except for the upper half of his head. A small slit had been cut in the bandages covering his mouth so that he could still speak. Parts of his hair were singed black but it was still grey for the most part. His bandaged arms rested upon the white hospital blankets. When he turned his head to look at Bonnibel it struck her as eerie. The creepy twitching of his neck as it struggled to turn in her direction was most unsettling for the pink haired girl.

"I honestly don't ehen know how eh talking to you right now. I hah no ucking lis."

"Yeah… I can see that…" Bonnibel gulped. "Your lips were burnt off…"

A single bandaged hand grabbed Bonnibel's arm causing her to gasp.

"Em sorry onnie…"

"Lich? What are you on about…?"

He lifted his other arm, pointing to the couple on the other side of the window through the small gap in the curtain.

"I know dere az sahthing going on etween you an arceline…"

"What…?"

"Eher since she cae to de scool, I noticed that you coun't kee your eyes ohuh her. I didn't know aht it az at hirst, ut then I started higuring it out." Lich looked at her and laughed. It was unsettling. "I don't ehen think _you_ knew aht it az..."

"Lich, I don't understand what you're saying… (in more ways than one…)" the pink girl began.

"I know ahout the concert." Lich said quietly. "I know she kissed you."

Bonnibel stared at him; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She looked at him dumbfounded whilst he coughed out his lungs in his hospital bed.

"I intentions eren't good, ut they eren't ad either. I just anted to see ih I could…"

He stopped talking. Bonnibel watched him stare at the couple outside of their room.

"I guess I lan didn't ork…" he wheezed as his eyes slowly closed and his heart monitor went flat.

"Lich…? Lich?!" she cried as she began shaking him by the shoulders.

His body remained unresponsive. The door suddenly burst open with two members of hospital staff rushing in. A doctor and a nurse. They told Bonnibel to stand back while they worked. She watched them preform CPR, use electric shocks and got no response out of it. An untold amount of time passed before the hospital staff stopped, realizing that their efforts were in vain. The doctor stopped doing compressions on the bandaged boy's chest and stood there defeated. The doctor sighed as he picked up a clipboard and held it up in front of him.

"Time of death-"

Bonnibel ran out of the room. She stood outside the door with her hand against the wall, just trying to get over the fact that somebody had just _died _right in front of her. She had witnessed the last moments of someone's life. Someone's life had ended, right before her very eyes. And not just anybody, someone she knew. Bonnibel felt sick. She needed some air. Bonnibel rushed down the corridor in search of something to empty her guts into. Her mind wouldn't slow down; her brain couldn't handle any more of this. She couldn't think straight, her mind blocked out every sense she had except for sight as she ran in search for a bin or a bucket. An action that spared her ears from the screams that came from the hallway behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>Trying talking without your lips touching, then you'll have a better idea of why Lich's dialogue is so messed up. (Also that's what I had to do the entire time I was writing his dialogue XD) As you can see he has trouble pronouncing his f's, v's, m's and p's.<strong>

**I hope this chapter wasn't too much for you guys to handle. I _did_ leave a warning at the beginning.**** Marceline's scarred for life, Finn lost his arm and Lich... was burned alive.**

**Heh, heh... those poor doctors.**


	20. Chapter 20: Sentiment

Chapter 20

"Lich is dead."

The room was filled with silence. Everyone had stopped. They all sat around Finn who was still hospitalised in his bed, staring at Bonnibel. The room suddenly felt smaller, everyone was huddled closer and Bonnibel was gradually starting to feel more and more suffocated by the apparent lack of space. People's eyes dropped to the ground, met the eyes of those sitting next to them or simply stared off into space. No one was quite sure how to handle this information as they sat there twiddling their thumbs.

"I just thought you should all know…" she added quietly.

Marceline let go of Ash's hand and stumbled out of the room pale faced. The pink haired girl discreetly raised a hand to tell Ash to stay put as she followed her out.

Marceline stopped in the middle of the hallway with one hand covering her mouth and the other on the wall. Bonnibel could see that the dark haired girl was struggling to stand so she rushed over towards her and grabbed her just before she fell.

"It's ok… it's ok…" she whispered into her ear.

The raven haired girl didn't appear to be listening. When Bonnibel turned her around she saw a face riddled with guilt. Her eyes were positioned in a serious manner as if they were expressing defiance however the lower half of her red eyes showed sags of worry and fear.

"I… I have to see…"

"There's no point…" Bonnibel said softly "They've more than likely taken his body off to the morgue and only members of hospital staff can go there."

"B-But I-I need t-to…" Marceline's words collapsed along with the rest of her body, suddenly halting in mid-air as Bonnibel caught her.

"You've walked around enough today. I'm taking you back to your room."

The pale girl's legs began to weaken. She shot a hand up to her neck as Bonnibel carried her. The pain in her neck becoming more and more unbearable as the morphine in her bloodstream slowly wore off. She'd been pumped up with so many painkillers that she could barely feel the floor when she walked on it bare-foot, but now that it was beginning to ebb away as her body flushed it from her bloodstream; the excruciating pain in her neck screaming for mercy. The two teenagers eventually came to Marceline's hospital room. The dark haired girl settled under the covers as Bonnibel slipped the tube back into her arm.

Bonnibel sat in the chair next to Marceline's bed and waited for the drugs to take hold. Marceline's eye's flickered every so often before eventually closing completely. The pink haired girl waited a while, calmly seated in the in the middle of the room whilst she watched the older girl sleep. A pang of paranoia gripped the pink haired girl as she tenderly took hold of Marceline's wrist and checked for a pulse. She felt the waves of blood flowing underneath the pressure of her thumb. She was still alive. Bonnibel wasn't going to lose anyone else tonight…

The pink haired girl stayed with Marceline for hours, staying with her for so long that she eventually fell asleep in her chair. It wasn't until Peppermint came into the room and gentle woke Bonnibel from her slumber. The older man took the sleepy girl by the shoulders and caringly guided her out of the room, reminding her that it was a school-night and that she needed to be home. Unbeknownst to the two Butlers, was one of Marceline's eyes cracking open by barely a millimetre and her hand outstretched weakly in protest to her friend's departure.

"Don't go…" she whimpered, her voice barely audible.

She wouldn't be getting any more visitors for that night. The hospital didn't allow it at this hour. The pale girl stared heartbroken at the ceiling as she prepared to spend the dreadful night alone whilst still trying to come to terms with the death of one of her friends. Sleep gradually began to creep back upon her, getting ready to drag her into a world of darkness and warmth.

Despite all the drugs she had flowing through her veins, the dark haired girl still felt a pain in her heart. She desperately wanted somebody to be near her, to hold her hand through the night. In that moment, she just couldn't stand the thought of being alone. She missed her friends, she missed her family. She missed Betty with her warm accepting smile, she missed Simon the only real father she'd ever had, she missed Ash and the way he would hold her tight and kiss her softly on her lips, but most of all, more than anyone else; Marceline missed Bonnibel. Not because of the little things she does that separated her from others, not because of the way she could always make her smile no matter what or because of how smart she was and how she always knew what to say, but because she was simply: Bonnibel.

The pink haired girl had thought she was unconscious when she checked for her pulse; however Marceline had been wide awake. She remembered the warm shiver she'd felt when the pink girl held her hand and the way her heart pumped just a little faster. Why had that been? The dark haired girl reckoned that it was because of how nostalgic her touch was. It had reminded her of when they'd been closer than they were now. Maybe her heart had beaten faster because; apart from hugging, it was the closest amount of contact she'd had with Bonnibel in months. A sign that maybe their friendship was finally repairing itself and that any wrong action she committed in that brief moment would jeopardise that from ever happening. Regardless of the reasoning behind it, it was new, it was very different and it felt… right.

The pale girl's black hair drifted over her face, obscuring her crimson red eyes from sight as she drifted off to sleep. About thirty minutes had passed and her slumber went on undisturbed. Even when her phone buzzed on the nearby table, indicating a text, the raven haired girl slept soundly, completely unaware of a tall dark figure skulking through the hospital's hallways, stopping momentarily outside her room, before continuing down the dimly lit ward.

* * *

><p>Bonnibel couldn't sleep. She stared at the pink ceiling with her arms folded over her stomach as she lay in bed. She'd tried to tire herself out by reading, solving linear equations at her desk, and writing up theorems for her science class; however, it had all ended in failure. Her mind was wide awake. Grabbing the corner of her sheets, she removed the blanket from her body with one hand and sat up in her pink bed, eyes pointed towards the purple carpet. She flicked on her bedside light and walked over towards her drawers. The pink girl knelt down, opened the second last drawer and just stared into its contents with her hands against the wooden frame. Her pink hair fell past her face as her neck lowered itself without her realizing.<p>

She reached into the drawing, pulled out a black t-shirt and held it out in front of her. Bonnibel folded the black piece of cloth and left it on the ground next to her. The pink haired girl leaned back and sat on her heels. She pulled the top half of her magenta coloured pyjamas over her head, leaving her upper body briefly nude as she picked up the black t-shirt in her hands, staring at it for less than a second before putting it on. She flicked out her messy hair from the collar of the shirt, letting it fall past her shoulders before she took the front of the shirt in her palms and inhaled.

A faint musky scent had lingered on the t-shirt throughout the months. Despite the amount of times it had been tossed into the wash by one of the housekeepers, it had somehow still retained the scent of alcohol and lavender, the scent of dew from cold grassy fields, the scent of feverish kissing in a hot stuffy tent and the scent of sweat releasing from every available pore on two very warm bodies. In reality the shirt smelled like vanilla with only a hint of lavender, but to Bonnibel; when she smelled that shirt… it was _all_ of these things.

Whatever the pink haired girl felt for Marceline, whatever meaning that girl had in her life, it wasn't something she could explain nor had a reason for. But the shirt… was easy. Of all the things Bonnibel owned, of all the people she knew, _nothing_ had more meaning in her life than the black rocker shirt that she was wearing. It carried great sentiment to the pink girl as it represented the gaining of a new experience, but also… a great loss in her life. The pink haired girl reflected on the first night she'd ever worn the shirt. She remembered how she had looked when she first saw herself in the mirror wearing it. She remembered the feeling of Marceline's soft fingers sliding up her top, unclasping her bra but also never once making an attempt to remove her shirt, as if it was representing something. However, whether Marceline knew it or not, that shirt _did_ represent something. Bonnibel had lost her virginity in this shirt. It belonged to the one who took it and it was also the only thing she had been wearing when _it_ happened. When Bonnibel smelled the shirt, it didn't just remind her of Marceline. It reminded her… of her first time.

Bonnibel closed the drawer in front of her delicately and gravitated towards her bed, climbing under the covers and turned off the light, not bothering to pick up the pyjama top that lay in a bundle on the floor beside her. Sleep suddenly came to her a lot easier as she rested upon her soft mattress, wrapped up under the covers of her bed, in the security of her blankets and in the security of Marceline's shirt. The warm memories that the shirt brought enveloped her in a cocoon of drowsiness and contentment. Her mind slowly became at ease as she eventually drifted off, pushing away current problems as it dragged her back to a night of heated moments and passion.

* * *

><p>"I brought you breakfast Marcy" Simon whispered quietly.<p>

Pale eyelids flickered open in response and a pair of red irises wandered around before eventually focusing on an olive skinned man with brown hair and glasses holding out a small plate of pancakes and toast. Marceline closed her eyes again and grinned as she heard the small clank that the plate made as Simon left it on the table.

"Thanks Simon…" she yawned, her eyes now open.

She couldn't see but the brown haired man was smiling at her.

"You're welcome. But do me a favour and eat those quickly, ok? I'm not exactly allowed to be bring food up here." He chuckled.

"K…" she replied, still rather sleepy.

Simon kissed the tired girl on the forehead before leaving the room in search of Betty. Marceline turned in her bed, taking care not to squash any of the tubes running down from her arm that was hooked up to the machine. She reached across and picked up her phone to see if she'd gotten any messages. Hopefully from either Bonnie or Ash. Her heart sank when she saw that she only had one text. And her heart sank even further when saw who it was from.

"_We hope you enjoyed your barbeque, freak"_

* * *

><p>Jake had gone ballistic in the gym. The skin on his knuckles broke as he repeatedly smashed his bare fists against the punching bag, not caring for the skin on his hands shredding away as he vented his outrage on the heavy piece of equipment. His mind was in a whole other world, his animalistic rage kept people away from him as he continued his onslaught on the punching bag. Jake's knuckles were bruised and bleeding and it wasn't until he felt the weight of a concerned hand on his shoulder that he eventually stopped his assault on the bag.<p>

"I… am going to… break… their necks." Jake muttered angrily under his breath, as Lady discreetly held his hand, trying to console him. The blonde's body was trembling with rage as his eyes went back and forth between Finn's stump and the text message. Jake didn't know Lich as well as everyone else so his death didn't affect him as much, however what he did know was that they hurt his little brother and they were proud of it. Looking down at the table where he'd left his towel, the blonde spotted Marceline's phone bearing a text he hadn't seen yet. He picked up the small device without asking and examined the message.

"_If you tell anyone about us, we'll end you."_

Jake paid close attention to the other text as he scrolled through Marceline's phone and threw on his jacket. He looked at the red eyed girl for only a moment before turning away as the others waited for his reaction.

"I don't care. They're not getting away with this." He stated, ignoring the obvious shock and panic in the pale girl's eyes.

Marceline didn't even say anything. She looked as if she was going to faint. Marceline had come close to fainting a couple of times since she'd left the hospital. She still had the bandage on as the glass had cut through her jugular vein and it still hadn't healed properly. Blood didn't flow though it as easily as it used to and as a result it had made her skin even paler than before. Ash steadied her and stood well back. Flaria followed his example and stood behind Finn's chair resting her hand's on the blonde's shoulders. Neither of them wanting to get involved in the current discussion and risking Jake's wrath. Bonnibel on the other hand was a different story.

"Jake!" cried Bonnibel. "You saw what they wrote! What if they-"

"They. Hurt. Finn!" he shouted indignantly, pointing a finger at his younger brother while maintaining eye-contact with the pink haired girl. "_That's_ all that I care about!"

"Jake, if you lay a finger on them you'll end up in JDC again!" Finn protested.

Jake turned to look at his younger brother.

"I'm willing to go to prison again Finn, especially if it means they get to pay for what they did." He replied sincerely. "And besides, there's nothing keeping me-"

He was cut off as Lady grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. She was talking fast. Despite the fact that she speaking in a completely different language, everyone knew what she was saying to him. They were all betting on Jake's supposed 'soft spot' for Lady as she tried to talk him out of it. He didn't appear convinced and was about to shrug her off when she grabbed the collar of his leather jacket pulling him towards her and frantically muttered something to him in Korean to his ear. She kept her voice low so that Bonnibel couldn't overhear. Jake's eyes widened as she spoke in his ear, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded with him not to go through with whatever he was planning. His jaw had dropped open a little as he turned to look at her, holding her by the arms, his eyes now huge. He asked her something in Korean which she confirmed by nodding, before pulling her into a hug, letting her burying her head into his chest. As soon as Lady wrapped her arms around him, the hardened boy had been turned into a soft puddle of mush. His friends and even Finn stared at the two of them in utter confusion. He eventually let go of the blonde girl and turned to face the group.

"I-I changed my mind…" he told them, his voice shaky. "I won't… go after them." He looked at the raven haired girl who was standing beside Finn. "I-I'm sorry for scaring you like that Marceline."

The raven raised a trembling hand in acceptance of the apology. Words could not express how relieved she looked in that moment. She didn't need to say anything. If a picture said a thousand words, then Marceline Abadeer was one hell of a picture.

Bonnibel looked at the raven haired girl with a pained expression. Every time her tormentors came up it sucked away everything that made her Marceline. They tore at her confidence, they made her feel insecure, they made her feel unsafe and worst of all they made the dark haired girl feel like she was nothing. The pink girl's blue eyes drifted in the direction of Jake and Lady, then towards Finn and Flaria and finally to Marceline and Ash. Her thoughts then turned to the memory of one absent figure in their group. A horrible feeling manifested itself in the pit of her stomach. It felt a combination of loneliness, anger and guilt. If nobody was going to do something about Marceline's tormentors then she would.

From the corner of a wall behind the school gym, LSP's thumbs were typing away at her phone as she kept an eye on the group. She hit the send button, letting the others know that Marceline ignored their warning. Closing her phone, she smiled to herself triumphantly as she left the gym.

Marceline's phone began buzzing in Jake's hand. The older boy looked at the phone with a puzzled expression before handing it over to Marceline. She ushered them over to her when she realized who it was from. The group huddled around the red eyed girl, peering over shoulder as she gulped and opened the text.

"_Tell Bubblegum we said happy birthday"_

* * *

><p><strong>Well I guess Marceline's bullies aren't done with her quite yet. And who was that "dark figure" that stood outside Marceline's hospital window? I'd be really surprised if any of you guess who it was. So, little challenge! I want you to write in your reviews who you think it was and why. Was it one of the bullies? Was it just Bonnibel? Or is it a <em>new<em> character I'm bringing in? I'm curious to see how your imaginations work! Regardless of whether or not you get it right!**

**Also that is in fact a new drawing for the story's cover. I'm actually the one who drew it, so forgive me if it looks a bit amateurish. I don't have any of the software nor the know-how of any of the artists on 'deviant art', so I'm kinda stuck with crappy quality photos of my drawings. (Also I have no idea how the copyright system on this site works when it comes to the story covers)**

**So is Bonnibel _really_ gonna take matters into her own hands? And if so, how? Either way, if she's gonna do something she'd better do it fast because it sounds like the bullies might try to gate-crash at the party. Let's just hope that doesn't happen though, alright?**

**So yeah, review and leave your criticisms and all that. Remember that I take your opinions very seriously so feel free to say whatever you want.**


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